Warriors of the Sun and Moon
by whitewolfgirl
Summary: Mai Suzuki, a 13 year old international singer meets the Frontier gang with comedic, romantic, adventurous results.They travel once again to DW to save it from the perils of evil. Along the way they learn pieces of her past and wonder who she really is...
1. A New School

**_Edit:March 17, 2007_ (ah, I'm not wearing green! O-O): Please excuse any typing errors that occur in the story. I wrote this almost two years ago and my writing has improved since. I'm afraid I don't have much time to correct all of them so I have to leave them as they are. **

**Chapter 1: A New School **

_Riing!_ goes the alarm clock. "Aaahh! I'm going to be late!" yelled Mai Suzuki.

She jumps out of her bed and rushes to the the restroom. A few minutes late, she's dressed and walks out the front door. Mai checks her watch and groans. _'Great, I'm going to be really late'_ as she sets her watch to the current time.

Mai had long, wavy, raven colored hair, and sharp, emerald colored eyes. She wore a turquoise, long sleeved blouse, and flared blue jeans. Her sneakers were sky blue with sparkly streaks. she arrives at the Takahashi Intermediate School. Mai runs throught the hallways, searching for the main office. Then, smack! She crashes into someone, causing her books to fall out of her arms and spill all over the floor.

"Sorry," she says.

She looks up and stares into the bluest eyes she's ever seen. Her face automatically turns blank, revealing no emotion, stopping her from blushing. Mai took a good look at the person she ran into. He had raven colored hair tied into a ponytail, with a navy blue bandana on it. He was wearing a yellow shirt covered by a navy jacket, and had dark jeans. On his feet were blue socks, and white sneakers with blue marks on them.

"No problem," answered the guy. He picks up her books and hands them to her.

"Thanks," says Mai.

The guy shrugs and walks away. _'Who was that guy?'_ she thinks. _''Well whoever he was he sure looked cute. No I can't be falling for another guy. He may be cute, but I have to get over it.' _

She keeps walking until some posters catch her eye. The first one is says: **Join the kendo club! Practice is every day from 3:45-4:30** A second poster says to join a soccer team. The third poster, and most eyecatching says: **Become a member of the Kouji Minamoto Fan Club! Contact Arianna Loreen to join.**

When Mai finished reading it, she chuckles and thought, _'Who is this Kouji Minamoto?'_ She shrugs and rushes to the main office, when she hears the bell ring.

* * *

"Class, I would like to introduce a new student," announces the teacher,"this is Mai Suzuki."

"Hello," says Mai.

"Miss Suzuki, please sit next to Miss Orimoto." says the teacher.

Mai sat next to a blonde haired girl with light green eyes. "Hi, I'm Zoe." says the girl.

"Hi Zoe."

They kept talking, until the teacher began with her lesson. Kouji, Minamoto, the same guy who ran into Mai, watched them from his seat. The person sitting on his right gave him a nudge.

"Hey, Kouji, are you getting any of this?" asked Takuya Kanbara.

Takuya wore squarish goggles on his brown hat, and brown gloves on his hands. His red jacket covered a dandelion colored shirt which had some symbol on it. On his feet he wore yellow socks and reddish, orange sneakers.

"Hardly," answers Kouji, not paying any attention whatsoever to their teacher, who blabbled on about the history of some place.

"You should," answered another boy on Kouji's left. He looked exactly like Kouji, except his hair was shorter, and he had different clothes on. The boy wore a long sleeved maroon shirt, with a green jacket over it. He had white pants, green socks, and green sneakers with red laces.

"So what is he saying Kouichi?" asked Takuya. While Kouichi explained to Takuya, Kouji turned his head back to where Mai and Zoe where sitting.

**Kouji's POV**

_'I looked over to where Mai and Zoe were sitting when it happened __**again.**_

_**Later that afternoon...**_

Mai sighed as she put up her stuff in her locker. It had been a tiring morning looking for her classes, but luckily, her new friend, Zoe helped her. Then, she remembered what had happened earlier in her history class.

_They had divided into groups of three. Mai was put with Zoe, and another girl. Mai noticed a girl with honey colored hair and hazel eyes, walk towards the table where Takuya, Kouji, and Kouichi were. _

_"What's that girl doing?" Mai asked Zoe._

_"Probably trying to ask Kouji out. She's only the 35th girl this month." replied Zoe._

_Mai then hears Takuya say," Sorry, but Kouji does not date."_

_"But," the girl stutters._

_"He -does -not- date." Kouichi repeated slowly. "Do you understand?"_

_The girl turns around, upset, and walks back to her table._

_"That was a little harsh." Mai remarks._

_"Maybe, but when you have every girl in the school trying to ask you out, you have to be." replies Zoe._

Mai closed her locker door. She almost jumped when she noticed the person whose locker was next to hers. The guy saw her staring at him and said cheerfully," Hi, I'm Kouichi Kimura. You're the new student from my history class."

"I am." she answered. Then she asked, " That boy who sits next to you, is he your brother?"

"Yes, his name is Kouji Minamoto." replied Kouichi.

"Oh." Mai was about to ask something else, when she stopped herself. _'I can't ask him about his and his brother's last names. That would sound rude.'_

Kouich saw her face and asked,"Are you o.k.?"

Mai looked up and said,"Yeah."

"Well, it was nice meeting you Mai." said Kouichi.

Mai replied, "It was nice meeting you too, Kouichi."

They, both walk opposite ways, until they realize they're going in the wrong direction. Smiling innocently, they walk towards the cafeteria together.

**Mai's POV**

_I picked up a lunch tray, and moved along the line, getting my lunch. Then, I saw Zoe wave at me to come sit at her table. I sat next to her and noticed who else was sitting there. It was Kouichi, Kouji, and some guy wearing goggles, who I thought looked like someone I knew before. Zoe introduced me to Kouji, Kouichi, and Takuya;that was his name. Takuya, the gogglehead, and Kouichi said hi, while Kouji just nodded his head. _

_Zoe and Takuya started talking about something (I forget what) and Kouichi listened, while I ate my lunch. Then, I get this strange feeling of being watched. I pretend to listen to what Zoe's saying, and then see him. Kouji. I don't know why, but for some reason, he kept staring me as if trying to find something. I put up my most unreadable face, and continue eating._

_'Why is he staring at me?' I wondered, and __kept eating until the bell rang._

**Kouichi's POV**

_At lunch, Zoe introduced us to Mai. I listened to Zoe and Takuya's conversation and then saw Kouji staring at Mai. Mai must have noticed too, because her face turned blank. I thought only Kouji could do that well, but Mai, I couldn't read her face at all! It was as if she was wearing a mask that hid her emotions. Kouji was suprised too, because I read it in his eyes. _

_Later, at P.E. while running laps, I asked Kouji in a curious way,"So what do you think of Zoe's new friend?'_

_He shrugged and kept running. Hmm... nothing. Then, I had an idea. I started talking about other things when I suddenly said,"Mai looks very pretty, don't you think?"_

_As I guessed, Kouji was still thinking about other things and replied,"Yeah." Noticing his mistake, he quickly said," I mean..."_

_I laughed after seeing his face blush. He never blushes, so I was suprised when I saw him do that._

_"You tricked me." he growled at me. I kept laughing and ran on ahead._

**Kouji's POV**

_Stupid Kouichi. I don't know how he did it, but he made me say that Mai was pretty. Then, he laughed when I blushed. Wait, I blushed? That''s not possible. I never blush. Ask Kouichi, my parents, and they'll tell you that I don' t blush. Something else that suprised me, was today at lunch. I was staring at Mai, when she saw me staring at her. Then, she did something I thought impossible. Her face turned so blank, that even I couldn't read it. Kouichi always said that I was the master of hiding my emotions, but this girl, seemed even better than me. However, there was something I noticed before her face changed, she was hiding something. Deep down, inside of her mind, she kept something hidden. Something important._


	2. Kendo and Soccer

**Chapter 2: Kendo and Soccer**

**Mai's POV**

_It was 3:45 in the afternoon, and I was in the kendo practice room. After seeing the posters, I decided to join the kendo club and try out for the soccer team. Soccer practice was later, so I went to see the sensei. He was surprised when he saw me. _

"We don't have any girls in our kendo club." he said.

"I still want to join." I replied.

"Very well. We're working in pairs today. Kouji doesn't have a partner. You can work with him." he told me.

I walked over to where Kouji was practicing.

"Hey," I said.

I must have surprised him, because he dropped his bokuto. (Kendo stick) I apologized to him and then he said with a raised eyebrow, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to join the kendo club." I replied.

Then, I picked up the bokuto and started doing some maneuvers.

"You're a girl." Kouji said.

Clink! I dropped the bokuto. While keeping my face blank, I said, "So?"

He saw the blank expression on my face and said nothing.

"How good are you?" I asked him.

He responded, "Why don't you find out?" Then, he swung the bokuto he had grabbed from somewhere, at my right. I easily dodged it. Surprised by my dodge, he swung at my left. I dodged that one too.

"You're fast." he said.

His face was expressionless, but I heard the tone in his voice which told me he was impressed. Quickly, I swung the bokuto in my hand, at him. His bokuto came just in time and blocked my move. I did the same move, only to find that Kouji blocked it again. I was beginning to get frustrated, and then realized that I had found an opponent that was as good as me. He was maybe even better. For less than a second, my mask broke, and I grinned. Seeing me grin surprised Kouji. He realized what I was grinning about and said, "Seems like we've both found an actual opponent."

"You're the best one in here?" I asked.

He replied, "Even better than the sensei. Well, he told me that."

I answered, "Not anymore."

"Is that a challenge?" he asked.

"Maybe."

Kouji replied, "Well, then I accept your challenge."

_**Kouji' POV**_

I shouldn't have accepted Mai's challenge. Even now, I still can't believe what happened, and I doubt I'll be able to show my face at kendo practice anymore. I practicing that afternoon when she came and surprised me. When, I swung the bokuto at her, she dodged it. She did some moves and I blocked it. It went on like this until our bokken broke. Then Mai did a back flip and then rushed forward. Before I could blink, she flipped me over. Since when was that kendo? I opened my eyes and saw faces looking at me. Takuya also happened to before there. Just Great. Now, he's never going to leave me alone about it. A hand was thrust in front of me. It was Mai's. I took it, and she helped me get up. The sensei came and told Mai she could be in the kendo club.

"Oh, I have to go try out for soccer!" she suddenly exclaimed as she ran out the door.

Then, Takuya said, "Wait, don't we have soccer practice today?"

I slapped myself on the forehead. Idiot. 

**Takuya's POV**

_That girl, Mai, whoa. I had no idea . . . wow. She is starting to freak me out. At lunch, she seemed like the quiet type of person. Kind of like Kouji. However, today at kendo practice, she was a completely different person. She kicked Kouji's butt. What I remember was that I was at detention for being late to class again. Kouji was at his kendo thingy, Kouichi was at the soccer field practicing early, and Zoe was helping a teacher with something. At least she wasn't at the mall. I was glad that Zoe had made a friend who was a girl that she could drag along to the mall, instead of us guys. Now, I'm not sure. Girls are hard to understand, and their mysterious ways. I'm getting off topic though. _

So, I got out of detention, and since I had nothing better to do after school before soccer practice, and I forgot about Kouichi, (oops) I went to go see Kouji. I went into the practice room, and saw Kouji doing his kendo stuff against Mai. It was hard to tell who was winning, since they were going so fast! Kouji was preparing his next move, but before he could, Mai moved quicker than him and flipped Kouji over. I was so shocked, that my jaw fell open. Then, I and everyone else in that room went to go see Kouji. We were also staring at Mai with our eyes wide open. There wasn't any expression on Mai's face which was weird. It was like Kouji's when he wanted to hide some emotion.

She held out her hand, and even more surprising, Kouji took it. Mai helped him get up. The sensei said something and then, Mai said something also and ran off. Suddenly I remembered and said that we had soccer practice today. Kouji gave me that same look that Zoe sometimes gives me before slapping my face. We walked to the soccer field. On our way, I teased Kouji about being beaten by a girl.

"Shut up, Takuya." he growled at me.

"What has the world come to when Kouji loses to a female?" I said questionably as I sighed. Kouji just gave me another look.

"Seriously, though, you, Kouji Minamoto, lost to a girl?"

Kouji replied, "You just saw her kick my butt, didn't you?" Then he commented,"Wait until it happens to you."

"Wait until what happens?"

"Nothing." 

**Mai's POV**

_I can't believe I beat Kouji! Excitedly, I rushed to the soccer field and saw Kouichi, his twin brother. _

"Guess what Kouichi; I made it into the kendo club!" I had quickly become a close companion with Kouichi since he had that sort of personality people liked.

"That's great!" he exclaimed. "So are here to try out for the soccer team?"

I nodded, and then noticed Takuya and Kouji walking over here. Kouji saw me, and for a second, our eyes met. Then, he looked away to talk to Takuya. Takuya stopped talking when he saw me. He noticed Kouichi and said,"Hey, Kouichi, there's something I have to tell you."

Kouji gave him a glare and sat down at one of the benches. I went over and sat next to him. He pretended not to notice. I was deep in thought about soccer tactics, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw him staring at me again.

'What's wrong with him? He keeps staring at me for no reason.' I thought.

Then I asked, "So, do you also play soccer?"

He snapped out of his staring trance and nodded. Then he replied, "I only do it because Takuya convinced me to join the team. He, Kouichi, the coach, and the other teammates say I'm good at it."

"Oh, well I love soccer." I replied.

"Just like Takuya, except he brags about how good he is, which you don't seem the type of person to do that. He doesn't stink at it, but he's not a pro at it either." he said. Then, he remarked, "You're a good opponent Mai."

Once again, I hid my emotions behind a blank mask, since I felt my face getting warm. "Umm... you're a good opponent too." I said. I noticed his eyes getting a misty look in them, and then he said, "Mai?"

"Hmm?" I responded.

"I was wondering if..."

"Hey, Kouji!" His eyes cleared as he heard Takuya call him. Kouji went over to where Takuya was, ignoring me again.

'I wonder what he wanted to say. Oh well.' I sighed and went over to join the guys. 

**Kouji's POV**

_My mind felt hazy as I talked to Mai. I sat on one of the benches, when she came over and sat next to me. I ignored her for awhile, and then received this strange feeling. Looking over at Mai, I saw her deep in thought. She looked... no...Ugh. I felt confused. Takuya kept teasing me about today, and now I feel weird. Then, Mai spoke to me, and I answered her. 'So, she loves soccer just like Takuya?' I told her she was a good opponent and stuff, when her face went blank again. How does she do that so well? She answered me with the same thing, but hesitantly. _

Then, I'm not sure what happened, but I was going to tell her something, when Takuya interrupted. Stupid Takuya! Now, I can't remember what I was going to tell Mai. 

**Kouichi's POV**

_I can't believe... Mai... beat...Kouji? I was practicing as usual, when Mai came, and we talked for awhile. Takuya and Kouji came and Takuya said he had something to tell me. Kouji gave me a glare, while Takuya led me to the bleachers. He told me what happened, and then we both laughed so hard that we fell of the first seats in the bleachers. Luckily, we weren't hurt. Takuya called Kouji over to the field, and started teasing him again. (I knew Takuya, and also knew he had been teasing him on their way over here) I kept laughing my butt off, while Mai came over, pretending not to notice what was happening._

**Takuya' POV**

_After I saw Mai beat Kouji at kendo, I was shocked. Later this afternoon, though, she left me speechless. Long story short, Mai tried out for the soccer team and of course, made it. She left everyone speechless. Mai would get the soccer ball and move so fast, none of us could keep up with her. This girl, who is she? _

**Kouji's POV**

_Not only did Mai make it into the kendo club, but she also made it onto the soccer team! She was good at it, that's for sure. When Takuya, Kouichi, and I walked home, it was my turn to tease Takuya. _

"So Takuya, you got beaten by a girl?"

"Shut up Kouji," he replied.

Kouichi said, "She's good. Whoever taught her kendo and soccer must have been a great sensei."

Takuya replied, "There's one thing I want to know though, who taught her?" 

**Mai's POV**

_Today had been a great day. I joined the kendo club, and made the soccer team. Plus, I had made some new friends. I guess I could consider Takuya, Kouji, and Kouichi friends. However, there's something about Kouji that makes me think about him as a different kind of friend. He's completely different from his brother. Kouichi's always cheerful and smiling, while Kouji seems more like the mysterious type. I guess that's why he has a fan club. Takuya's, well, a goggle head type of person. He reminds me of some other people I knew who were like that. Kouichi also reminds me of some other people. Kouji especially reminds me of... No! I can't start thinking about him again! No matter how much I miss him, I have to forget about him. Hiroshi would've been proud of what I did today, though._


	3. A Digital Call:Return To DigiWorld?

**Chapter 3: A Digital Call: Return to the Digital World?**

Mai had been walking home when she heard someone call her.

"Hey, Mai!"

"Hmm?" She turned around and saw Zoe waving at her.

"Zoe!" yelled Mai, and went over to where Zoe was.

"I had something to do after school, but I didn't see you." said Zoe.

"Oh yeah, well I went to join the kendo club, and try out for the soccer team." explained Mai.

Then, she told Zoe what had happened that afternoon.

"So, I was kind of... Zoe?"

She saw Zoe on the ground, laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe.

"I'm... I'm sorry, but... I can't believe that you..." Zoe tried to say, before she burst out laughing again. Mai waited patiently while Zoe calmed down. When, she did, Zoe asked, "You, Mai Suzuki, beat the Kouji Minamoto in kendo?"

Mai just nodded her head.

"Wow. You have no idea how important this is. A historical moment has just happened, and I wasn't even there to see it." said Zoe. She sighed and said, "If only I could've been there."

Mai just nodded her head and said sarcastically, "Right..." Then they kept walking for a while.

**Zoe's POV**

_After school, I went to Mai's locker to tell her I was busy this afternoon, but she wasn't there. 'Hmm... She must have already left.'_

_So I went ahead to help my art teacher with some posters. I was walking past the soccer field and saw the soccer team practicing. I saw a blur moving faster than the other blurs._

_'I wonder who that is.'_ _I thought. _

_I kept walking for about 15 minutes, and then stopped at the gas station to get some snacks. I ate outside, and then saw Mai. We talked for awhile. When she told me what happened this afternoon, I nearly burst into tears from laughing. She... beat Kouji and Takuya in soccer? It seemed impossible, but I believed her. Then, we talked about our favorite music. _

"Guess who my favorite singer is." I said.

"Who?" she asked.

"Well, she's probably your favorite singer too, since a lot of people love her music. Also she..."

"Zoe, can you just tell me?"

I saw she was tired, so I said,"Oh, alright. Namine is my favorite singer. Her music is amazing. Of course, you must have heard of her."

Mai kind of froze for a minute, and then she said,"Yeah, I've heard of her."

Then, I kept talking to her about Namine, and noticed, the way she looked. She didn't seem relaxed anymore, and instead looked... nervous? I'm not sure why she was like that, but she was. When I was saying about how the band she was in broke up, our cell phones beeped. I opened mine and saw a message on it. _**DO YOU WISH TO JOIN? YES NO**_

Immediately, I knew what it meant. Mai's cell phone had the same message on it. I told her to push the button for yes. Confused, she pressed it.

Then, we heard a voice. "Head for Shibuya Station by 5:45 PM."

"What was that?" Mai asked me. I told her there wasn't time to explain, since I checked my phone, and it said 5:30PM.

"Come on!" I exclaimed as I grabbed her arm, and pulled her, along with me, to Shibuya Station. As both of us ran, I wondered if the others had received the message. 

**Takuya's POV**

_As soon as Kouji and I got the message, we knew where to go. Kouichi didn't know what was going on, since he came to the digital world, in a different way. We arrived at the station, and saw some other friends of ours. _

"J.P, Tommy, over here!" I yelled so they could hear me. Tommy looked the same as ever, except he looked taller, and wasn't wearing his hat anymore. J.P., well, he looked like he lost some weight. I was surprised, but didn't envy him.

"Hey, Takuya!" exclaimed Tommy.

"You guys got the message?" asked Kouji. They nodded their heads.

J.P asked, "Where's Zoe?"

We shrugged our shoulders. None of us had seen her, except at school. We decided to go down the elevator to the underground train station, and hoped Zoe was already there. 

**Mai's POV**

_Zoe and I received this message on our cell phones that said to go to Shibuya Station. Zoe seemed to know where to go, whereas I was clueless. We went down this elevator, to some kind of underground station. It was empty except for one red train. _

"Wha...?" Ding! Went the elevator.

We turned around and faced Takuya, Kouji, Kouichi, and two other guys. One of them wore some kind of blue jumpsuit (at least that's what I thought it looked like) with yellow at the ends. His shoes were blue and yellow, and he looked at least a year older. Also, he had brown hair, and brown eyes.

The other boy looked about two years younger, and wore a white shirt with green at the sleeve ends. He also wore yellowish pants, green socks, and greenish whitish shoes. His eyes were light green and he had light brown hair.

"What are you doing here?" asked Takuya, Kouji, and Kouichi, looking at me.

"Hey, guys, she also received the message from Ophanimon." replied Zoe.

I asked Zoe, "Who's Ophanimon, and why are we here?"

Zoe sighed and replied, "It's a long story, Mai. Here are some other friends of mine. This is J.P., (pointing at the guy who looked older than us), and this is Tommy. (Pointing at the shorter, younger looking kid)

"Hello," greeted Tommy and J.P. cheerfully.

I nodded and turned back to Zoe. "You should start explaining. Then, I walked over to the front of the red train. It hit me. "Worm?" I asked, not being entirely sure. The train responded, "Well, I haven't seen you in a while, kid." Everyone turned around and looked at me surprised.

"You know Worm?" asked Takuya. I nodded my head, and told them that I had met Worm, on my last trip to the digital world. I realized something else.

"Are we supposed to go to the digital world?" I asked. They nodded their heads.

"How do you know about the digital world?" asked Takuya, again.

"It's a long story." I repeated Zoe's words.

"I thought we were the only ones who have been to the digital world before."

I shook my head and murmured, "There have been others."

They looked at me confused, and then Kouichi said, "Maybe you can tell us your story while we ride Worm back to the digital world." Everyone nodded their heads, while I shook mine.

"I'm not going back." I told them. They kept talking, and finally convinced me to go. We boarded Worm as he said all aboard, and headed towards the digital world.

What everyone was thinking: How did Mai know about the digital world? 

**Takuya's POV**

_We told Mai about our adventures in the digital world. When we got the part where we found out that Duskmon was Kouichi being controlled by Cherubimon, Mai's expression on her face looked sad, yet happy. Near the end of our story, when we told her the part after defeating Lucemon, and rushing to the hospital to see him, her face looked even more upset. She went to the other side of the train, in another car. Then, she came out, her face once again, expressionless. Then, this really weird thing happened. _

Our detectors (which had turned back from our cell phones) started to beep and emit this strange glow. We noticed that something in Mai's jean pocket, was also emitting the same beeping, and glowing. She took out something that resembled a pager. (Digivice from Season 1) The glow coming from our detectors, aligned together, and pointed at Mai's pager thing.

The thing she held in her hand changed to something that resembled a walkie talkie. It was light blue, with cerulean on the sides. (D-3s from Season 2) It changed again. This time it looked roughly like a bubbly letter T. It was white, except for a silver color lining around the screen. Plus, it had a clip on it, so you could clip it on a jeans' pocket. (D-Power from Tamers) Finally, it changed into a detector, like ours. It was cerulean, with silver at the lower, right corner area.

"Wha...what just happened?" said Mai, blinking.

"I don't know," replied Zoe,"But what were those other things that your, um...detector turned into?"

At first Mai didn't answer, so Zoe repeated the question. Then she snapped out her daydream and responded, "They were digivices, just like yours, only different models. One of them was the original digivice. The second one was called a D-3." She explained what the three D's stood for.

"The third one?" asked Kouichi.

Mai replied," The third one was called a D-Power."

"Mai, why did it change like that?" asked Zoe, gently.

"It does that, whenever..." she stopped, and no matter how much we asked, she wouldn't tell us why. We sat there, in silence for awhile. Then, after seeing nothing but darkness through the windows, we saw a clear blue sky. The next thing we knew, we were being dumped out onto the station, by Worm.

"Hey! Thanks for the lift." I said sarcastically. I vaguely heard what Worm said, but was pretty sure, it was a 'you're welcome'

Kouji groaned and tried to get up, but noticed someone was on top of him. It was Mai. Mai saw who she landed on, and quickly got up.

"Well, we're here," I said. "Now what?" 


	4. Adventure Begins Once More: Ophanimon's

**Chapter 4:The Adventure Begins Once More: Ophanimon's Message**

Mai sighed. Then, she kept leaping from tree to tree, (They were close together) while grabbing some of the branches. She could see three shadows trailing along behind her. One of them was her own, but the other two where... 

_'Why can't they just leave me alone?'_ she thought. Mai jumped down from one of the trees and waited.

She leaned against the tree and thought, _'I might as well wait until they catch up.'_ While she waited for her mysterious followers, her mind dozed off, to what had happened earlier, just after arriving at the digital world...

_Mai looked around at her surroundings. It looked just as it did, when she first came to the digiworld. 'It's hard to believe. . . but I'm actually here again.' she thought. A loud, annoying voice, which could've only come from Takuya, interrupted her thoughts._

"Hey Mai!" yelled Takuya into her ear.

"Yeah?" she replied with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Do you remember this certain area?"

She scanned the area, looking carefully, trying to recall if she had been here before. "Actually I do remember. This area is only a couple of miles away from the Primary Village." Everyone looked confused.

"Primary Village?" asked Tommy uncertain.

Mai responded, "You might know it as the Town of Beginnings."

"Oh." everyone replied. Then a light and some beeping came from their detectors. A voice came out of them, echoing throught the station. 

"Digidestined..." it said.

Mai almost jumped in suprise. 'I wonder who the voice belongs to.' she thought. She noticed the others paying atteniton to the voice coming out of the detectors.

"Welcome back to the Digital World. I know you are wondering why I have called you back." They replied yes. Ophanimon continued,"There is an evil force trying to take over the digital world. This evil force is much more powerful than any evil force you have facen. More powerful than Lucemon, and even more powerful than any of the forces you have faced, Mai Suzuki."

"How...how do you know my name?" asked Mai,uncertain.

Ophanimon replied, "I know every name of every digidestined. However, that is not important right now, what's important is that you stop this evil, before the digital world and the human world are destroyed. You must find you human and beast spirits. They will not be found in the same place you found them before. There is also something else I must tell you. Cherubimon is once again, back on our side, fighting against the evil."

The gang cheered. Ophanimon said,"Now is not the time to celebrate. Also, during the repair of the Digital World, Seraphimon and I have discovered two new spirits. Find these spirits, for they are more powerful than any of you're spirit combined. Mai Suzuki, I know you are wondering why you were called back to the digital world, and are thinking that you cannot help, because of what happened in the past. Please, do not worry, you were sent here, because one of those spirits belongs to you. You will be able to fight you're own battles in the digital world, from now one, and you will not be alone. Also, the other spirit is currently being found by another child, who've I called. I know that you will be interested when meeting this child, for she is also important, as is Mai.

"When do we meet that child?" asked Zoe.

"After you find one of the spirits, you are to go to Seraphimon's castle, where he, Cherubimon and I will be planning on how to defeat the new evil. The other child has been told to meet there as well. Also, I thought that you'd be excited to know, that Bokomon and Neemon are going to be there as well."

The gang smiled to one another. They had missed Bokomon's help by reading that green book he carried around, and Neemon's funny remarks about everything.

"I must also tell you the names of the spirits that are to be found. They are..." ZZZZZ! Their detectors gave out a static like noise, and the screens turned black.

"Ophanimon!" yelled Takuya as he kept pushing the buttons on his detector.

"I'ts no use, Takuya, she's gone." said Kouji.

"I wonder what she was going to say. " remarked Zoe. J.P, Tommy and Kouichi shrugged.

"What do you think Mai?" asked Zoe. She turned around, only to notice Mai wasn't there.

"Hey, where'd she go?" asked Takuya.

Mai could hear the footsteps arriving. She didn't think about them though. 'I know I was supposed to help them find these spirits, but I can't. I just can't. Not after...'

The footsteps stopped and Mai turned around."Took you long enough." she said.

Kouji and Kouichi just stood there, unsure what to reply... 


	5. Separate Ways: Mai's Story

**Chapter 5: Separate Ways:Mai's Story**

"Takuya, we'll catch up with you later." said the voice coming out of Takuya's detector.

"'Kay." Takuya replied."See you later Kouji." Then, he sighed.

Tommy asked,"When are they coming back?"

"I don't know Tommy. We'll find out soon enough."

* * *

Mai, Kouji, and Kouichi sat around the fire that had been made. No one spoke, and the only noises that were made was the crackling of the fire, and the wind that was gently blowing through the trees. Kouichi broke the silence.

"Mai-chan, why did you run away?" he asked.

Mai didn't answer. She was staring into the embers of the fire.

"Mai?"

She looked up, and the twins saw a sad expression on their face. They were suprised.

"All of this, is very confusing. Returning to the Digital World, receiving a message that there's a new evil thing out there trying to destroy it, spirit evolving. I really want to help you guys, but I just can't." Mai replied.

Kouichi then asked her,"But why? Why can't you help? Is it because you don't like us...or what?"

Mai shook her head and replied,"I don't hate any of you, since I only just met you guys. It's just..." she trailed off.

She covered her head, and wrapped her arms around her legs. Kouji and Kouichi heard her say something softly:Silverwolfmon.

"Silverwolfmon?" they repeated.

Mai lifted her head and said,"She was my digimon partner. We would both fight against our enemies and defeat them. Also, Silverwolfmon was the only one who understood me. I could tell her anything."

Kouichi asked,"Partner digimon? Is that how you fought enemy digimon? No spirit evolving?" He saw her shake her head.

Kouji, who had been silent for awhile, then asked,"So what happened?" Immediately after he said that, he regreted it.

Mai's face became sadder, and she began to cry silently. Tears rolled down her face, and her eyes had a reddish color. The twins watched her cry, and felt uneasy.

Then Mai replied while hiccuping,"Silver...hic! Silverwolfmon...she...hic! she was destroyed!"

Mai burst out sobbing. Kouichi stood up and went to comfort her. Kouji followed him.

Patting her shoulder, Kouichi told her it was okay, while Kouji stood there. After a few minutes, Mai calmed down.

She looked at Kouji and Kouichi and said softly,"I'll can tell you why, if you want to know."

They nodded.

* * *

Before Mai began the story, she said to Kouji and Kouichi,"There have been a few times when I have had real friends. Like the kind you can trust your secrets with, and other things like that. However, whenever I make friends, I always have to end up leaving them, and then I never see them again. So I try again, to make new friends...but it's not so easy for me."

Kouji and Kouichi nodded. They knew what she meant, but Kouji knew better. It hadn't been easy for him either, making friends.

Mai continued,"So if there's a time when I seem when I seem to act...well mean or rude, I really don't mean it most of the time.Please understand that." She paused, took a deep breath and let it out, and then began.

"It was during one of my trips to the digital world. I don't remember why we were there, we just were. I do remember what I said to Silverwolfmon though...

* * *

_"Hey Silverwolfmon, isn't the sky a nice color today?" Mai asked her wolf type digimon. _

Silverwolfmon was a silver wolf with sapphire blue eyes. The tips of her ears, her feet, and the tip of her tail was white. She had midnight blue, fingerless gloves on her forepaws. She also stood on her back feet, unlike a regular wolf.

"Yes, it is." Silverwolfmon replied.

Mai smiled, and they continued walking through the forest, until they arrived at a tremendous lake. Mai sat back against a tree, and closed her eyes. Silverwolfmon grinned, and leaped onto a tree branch. They didn't speak, enjoying the peace and quiet. Mai opened her eyes and looked at the clear, sparkling water of the lake. She saw her reflection and smiled, for no particular reason. Her reflection mimicked her, smiling as well.

Suddenly, Mai felt a deep rumbling at her feet. Silverwolfmon also felt it, and she jumped down from the tree.

"What's going on?" Mai asked.

Her partner replied,"I sense danger...coming from the lake!"

Mai quickly turned around. She asked,"Is it an enemy?"

Silverwolfmon nodded. Mai's expression became serious. She took out something from her pocket. It was her D-Power. She nodded to Silverwolfmon, who nodded back.

They both faced the lake and waited silently. Splash! A huge, serpentlike digimon rose from the water. Before Mai could see what digimon it is, she felt a huge pain in her body. It felt as if she was on fire. Mai fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

"Silverwolfmon!" Mai yelled. Her vision becomes blury, and then she blacked out.

* * *

Mai stopped talking. Kouichi asks her,"You blacked out?"

She nodded and said to him,"One second I was focused on the giant serpent-like digimon, the next I was on the ground, in pain. By the way, if you ever feel like you're going to black out, don't. When I woke up, I had a massive headache."

"What happened after you woke up?" Kouichi asked her.

At first, Mai didn't say anything, hesitating. Then slowly, she began.

"When I woke up, I couldn't remember what had happened before. Then the memories came rushing at me.."

* * *

_"Silverwolfmon!" Mai shouted. _

She couldn't see any trace of what had happened. Mai heard a beeping noise, and spotted her D-Power on the ground. When she picked it up, a map suddenly appeared. It showed a blue dot standing still. Mai moved, and the blue dot moved. She guessed it must be her. Then she saw a silver dot that was still. Something in her mind told her it was Silverwolfmon. Mai quicky ran towards where Silverwolfmon was, following the map on her D-Power.

As Mai ran, she noticed the landscape change. There were trees that were ripped apart, and lying down. On the ground, plants were sprawled in a mess. She could also see burnt areas where grass should've been growing.

'What the...what happened?' she thought.

Then, Mai stopped running. Her eyes widened, and her pace slowed down. Finally, she stopped completely, and fell to her knees.

"Sil..verwolf...mon.." her voice trailed off.

Silverwolfmon was a mess. There were scratches all over her, and blood also. Her was messy, and she was barely breathing.

"Mai..mai." she said falteringly, that Mai had to bend down to hear.

Silverwolfmon spoke,"I saw you fall to the ground, yelling. I was going to help...but it attacked...Fought...couldn't digivolve..tried to protect you..Mai...I'm sorry. Goodbye..."

"Goodbye? What do you mean?" Mai began. Silverwolfmon began to sparkle, and slowly, her data began to disappear.

Mai held her digimon in her arms, and tears began falling down her face.

"No.don't leave me...No!"

She watched Silverwolfmon disappear completely. Then, she was holding nothing but air. Mai stood up, still looking at the ground. After a few seconds, she looked up at the bright blue sky, and saw sparkles floating in the air.

"Silverwolfmon..." Mai said softly, with tears flowing down her face.

* * *

Nobody said anything. Both Kouji and Kouichi looked at Mai, who was staring again at the fire. As she stared into it, the memories of what had happened that day, came to her.

"Mai-chan." she heard someone say her name, which broke her thoughts. Mai looked up.

Kouichi said gently,"I wish I could think of something good to say, that would make you feel better, but all I have is this. Silverwolfmon didn't deserve what happened to her, but she would've wanted you to come back to the digital world, to save it again, and not be upset like this."

Mai replied,"I know, but just being here reminds me of her, and what happened."

Kouji suddenly spoke,"I thought all digimon were reborn, even if they were destroyed."

"That's what I thought too, when Silverwolfmon's data was gone. I had went to Primary Village, hoping I could find her Digiegg, so I could bring her back."

"When I got there, I saw a mysterious figure. It told me it wasn't an enemy. Then it said I wouldn't find Silverwolfmon's egg. Something in the strangers voice told me it wasn't lying. The stranger then showed me the way home."

"I'm sorry." Kouichi apologized.

"For what? You didn't do anything." Mai replied.

"For what happened to you. I can't even imagine how horrible it must've have been to you, when you lost Silverwolfmon, and then knowing you couldn't bring her back." Kouichi told her.

"It's o.k. Just talking about it, with someone, makes me feel better. Thank you Kouichi-kun, and Kouji-san." A hint of a smile appeared on Mai's face. She couldn't help it, but right now, she didn't mind. Then, Mai remembered something else.

She told the twins,"I know you guys have to meet up with the others, so you should probably go and find them. It shouldn't be too hard with your D-tectors."

Kouji and Kouichi were puzzled. They asked,"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Look, I've decided I'll stay and help in the Digiworld, just in a different way." she replied.

Kouichi frowned,while Kouji noticed the expression on his face and knew what was coming.

His brother crossed his arms and said,"You can't be wandering around alone in the digital world. The three of us: You, Kouji, and I will catch up with the others when you're ready."

Mai said,"It's okay Kouichi-kun. I've been here several times, so I know where everything is."

"No, it's not okay Mai. We're not going to leave, until you come with us." Kouichi replied.

"Kouichi-kun..." Mai sighed.

"No."

"Kou..." Mai began and then noticed the hard expression on his face. She had seen that expression before and knew that no matter what she said, Kouichi would not let her travel by hersef in the Digital World.

Mai gave up, and rolled her eys.

"Fine." she said.

Kouichi beamed, while Kouji prevented himself from smiling.

"Well, time to go to sleep." Kouichi announced suddenly, receiving blank looks from Kouji and Mai.

They quickly nodded, before he asked why they were looking at him like that, and then layed down somewhere. The three said goodnight and then fell asleep.

As Mai slept, she thought,_'Who would've guessed Kouichi-kun could be so stubborn?'_


	6. A Meat Apple Experience

**Chapter 6:A Meat Apple Experience**

Eyes opened to see sunlight filtering through the trees, beaming everywhere. Mai yawned, and stretched her arms. She awoke to see Kouji and Kouichi still asleep. Her gaze lingered a little bit longer on Kouji's face, then she quickly looked at something else. She finally decided to take a walk through the forest. Mai dug in her pockets and found some folded paper, and a pen. She unfolded the paper, and wrote a message on it.

_Just taking a stroll. Be right back, _

Mai. 

Mai relaxed as she breathed in the fresh air. She looked at the trees, and small plants, and walked on, enjoying the Digital World's natural beauty. Some small, forest-like digimon passed her, taking only a small glimpse at her, and then moved on. Mai went over by a huge oak tree, and rested against it. She thought about what Kouichi said last night about soon joining the others.

_'A new group of digidestined, consisting of:a gogglehead, the lonewolf guy, the young boy, a nice guy, a guy who likes to eat, and the spontaneous girl. Then, there's me. Where would I fit in?'_ Mai also thought about spirit evolving.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a rustling sound in the bushes. She saw Kouji appear.

"Hey." she said, suprising him. He hadn't seen her at first, until she spoke.

"Hey," he replied, and then said,"We were looking for you. Kouichi got worried after he read the note."

"I said I would be back soon." Mai told him while rolling her eyes.

"That's what I told him, but he insisted on looking for you. So yeah..." Kouji replied.

Mai sighed and said,"Let's go then, before he gets anymore worried." Kouji nodded, and then they began looking for Kouichi.

As they were searching, Mai couldn't help but feeling a little akward. At some times, she would catch him giving her an odd look, and then when he noticed her looking, he would look at something else. Mai didn't say anything aloud though.

_'What's up with him?'_ she thought.

Even though she felt akward around Kouji, she also felt relaxed, and calm, the total opposite from how she felt when being around the others. He didn't start any conversations, and kept quiet, so Mai didn't have to say much, which was what she felt comfortable with.

Also, he was the first guy who acted normal around her, besides Kouichi and Takuya, but they were different. Since she had arrived in Japan, the guys she had passed by, would stare at her in awe, making her nervous.

As for Kouji he couldn't wait until they found Kouichi. She made him nervous, and Kouji felt that if she asked him something, he would blurt out something embarrasing. At the same time, he didn't want to find Kouichi, and wanted to be alone with Mai.

_'Wait, what am I thinking? Why would I want to be alone with her? Maybe because she acts normal around me. She doesn't act like the other girls, who stalk me and squeal everytime I pass them. I guess I'm not used to another girl besides Zoe act normal around me.'_ Kouji thought.

Finally, they spotted Kouichi, and called out his name.

He turned around and asked Mai where she was. It took awhile for Mai to explain to Kouichi where she was, and telling him he shouldn't worry, etc.

Kouji decided to change the subject by asking,"So what do we do now?"

Nobody replied, until Mai suggested timidly,"Perhaps we can start looking for those spirits that the voice from our detectors said we had to look for."

"The voice's name was Ophanimon. She's one of the three Celestial Angels." Kouichi told her.

They turned to look at Kouji who nodded.

"Let's go then." Kouichi said.

* * *

Mai, Kouji, and Kouichi trekked through woods, over hills, and accross plains, searching for the spirits. Several days passed as they searched. On the seventh day, at about noon, they decided to stop and rest. While Kouichi went looking for some food, Kouji began building a fire by rubbing two sticks together.

"Is it allright if I help?" he heard a voice ask, and looked up to see Mai. Kouji nodded simply, and went back to building the fire.

Again, he felt nervous and silently wished for Kouichi to hurry back with the food, while also wishing Mai would say something. He was used to hearing girls talk all the time, so when Mai didn't say anything else, he was puzzled.

Meanwhile, Mai was searching for some rocks to pile around the fire that was being made, so it wouldn't spread to the forest. She found several, and picked them up.

Then, she walked over to where Kouji was and sat next to him. Mai struck one of the stones against another one, and saw a spark. She continued striking the rock against the other one, until the sparks fell on the loose sticks, and small embers appeared.

The same happened to Kouji when he rubbed one of the sticks against the other. Both of them blew gently until the embers grew, and they had a fire. Mai relaxed and leaned back against a log Kouji had set on the ground.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds and started imagining things. Slowly, she dozed off and leaned to the right, onto something soft. In a few seconds she woke up and noticed what or rather, who, she was leaning against. Mai sat up quickly and muttered an apology. Kouji didn't say anything, and just stared at the sky.

* * *

They saw Kouichi with an armfull of apples, arrive at the campsite, by dusk. When they inquired him why it took so long for him to get food, he replied,"I found an apple tree far from here, but it took me awhile to get the apples down."

Kouji then took a closer look at the apples and told the other two,"These are meat apples. Each one tastes like a different meat, and you have to cook them, just as you would with regular meat." He stuck a stick into one of them and hung it over the fire, making sure it didn't fall into it.

"Cool. It's like roasting marshmallows." Mai commented and did the same thing.

The three of them waited patiently as their meat apples were cooking, saying nothing. In order to break the silence, Kouichi asked Mai some questions about herself. Mai replied and asked him some questions as well.

"What about you Kouji?" she suddenly turned to face him. Kouji was caught off-guard, and almost dropped his meat apple into the fire.

"Huh?" he asked.

Mai repeated her question. "Do you play any instruments?"

Kouji noticed his brother give him a glance and replied,"I, uh, play the guitar."

"Cool, I play the guitar too." Mai told him.

He then told her,"Kouichi-niisan can play guitar and bass guitar, though he prefers bass. Takuya plays the drums, and I know that Zoe plays several instruments also."

"So you're like a band?" Mai asked, then Kouichi replied,"Not really. I mean we sometimes play at the dances or parties at our school, but we're not like a famous band. It would be cool if we were though." Mai nodded and Kouichi continued.

"Like that one band that Zoe, Takuya, and we listen to, with their lead singer!"

Kouji said, "You mean _Icefire_?"

"Yeah, and their lead singer Namine!" Kouichi exclaimed.

Mai froze. She stopped breathing for a few seconds, and then began breathing again. As Kouichi was talking, Kouji noticed this, and he saw Mai's face change for a second, then turn back to normal.

He thought,_'Why did her face change like that? Was it something Kouichi or I said?'_

Kouichi asked Mai,"You heard of _Icefire_?"

She nodded and replied a little too quickly,"Of course I heard of them."

Kouichi then smiled and said,"It's too bad they broke up. Their songs were really something. Namine was really something, wasn't she Kouji?"

Kouji almost fell off the log he was sitting on. He inquired,"What are you saying?"

Mai understood what he meant. She suddenly felt uncomfortable.

Kouichi nudged Kouji still smiling, and replied,"Come on. You know, Namine. The really cute singer whose poster you have hanging in your room."

_'This cannot be happening.'_ Mai thought to herself. She suddenly wished she was somewhere else.

Kouji scowled and told him,"First of al, I have a poster of the band hanging in my room. Second, she's ok." However, Mai noticed a tinge of red on his face as he said this.

"Really? Well I remember very clearly that you once said she was more than cute, I believe." Kouichi replied.

They didn't seem to see Mai, as they argued. Mai felt like banging herself on her forehead. She was trying to think of a way to change the subject.

Kouji's face was reddening. "I. Never. Said that." he said through his teeth.

"Sure you didn't Anyway, I don't know why you're still arguing against it. I mean, she's rich and famous, and the chances of meeting her are slim." Kouichi sighed, having enjoyed himself torturing his brother.

Mai thought silently,_'It must be your lucky day then.'_

She said aloud,"So um, spirit evolving? How does that work exactly? What do the spirits look like?"

Kouji and Kouichi then realized that Mai had been listening to their entire conversation, and they turned to face her.

"Um, well its not something you can really describe. You kinda have to experience it yourself to know. As for what the spirits look like, that depends. I can tell you that there are two kinds of spirits. There's human spirits, and beast spirits." Kouichi told her.

Kouji added,"Before we met Kouichi, we were searching for our beast spirit, so we could defeat Grumblemon and the other evil legendary warriors. However, when we did find them, we had trouble controlling them. Zoe was the only one who could controle hers." He then muttered,"And she never let us forget it."

Then he said, "Takuya almost destroyed all of us with his, and I didn't have much luck with mine. Same with Tommy and J.P."

Mai nodded and then asked,"Do you smell something burning?"

They saw what was happening to their meat apples and yelled, quickly grabbing them.Then they blew on them,trying to cool the meat apples, and took a bite. Mai's face brightened.

"Mmmm..thish ish gewd." she said with her mouth full of meat apple. The twins nodded.

About an hour later, they all decided to go to sleep. Kouichi and Mai laid out some leaves to use for their beds, and then layed on them. Kouji went to a nearby tree, and layed against it.

"What, too good for the ground?" Mai teased. Kouichi had already fallen asleep. Kouji didn't reply, as he stared at the night sky.

Mai followed his gaze and said softly,"Wow, didn't realize how clear the sky is. I wonder though, why are there three moons?"

Kouji shrugged and replied,"I don't know."

"Oh well, they look nice though."

"Yeah." was Kouji's response.

Yawning, Mai rested her head, still looking at the night sky. Finally, she felt herself doze off. As she began falling asleep, she heard a voice say,"Good night, Mai."

"Good night Kouji." Mai replied, and yawned one more time. Then she went to sleep. Kouji watched her for awhile, and then smiled.

He went back to look at the night sky. As he did, a thought came to mind. _'She's not Namine, but she's allright.' _Then, he too, drifted off to sleep.


	7. On The Road: The Cave

**Chapter 7: On The Road:The Cave**

Mai chuckled to herself when she woke up and saw Kouichi sleeping with a smile on his face, as he muttered something. Her eyes drifted to the tree where Kouji was sleeping. He was resting calmly on the grass in front of it. Mai's gaze lingered on his face for awhile, and then she looked at something else.

Then, she climbed up tree, and sat on a large branch. She listened to the different sounds of the forest, and looked at her surroundings. Mai heard a noise, and looked down to see the twin boys wake up.

"Good morning sleepyheads. Had a nice nap?" she said happily, and smiled. Both of them noticed the tone in her voice, and were a bit suprised.

Kouji remarked,"You seem cheerful." Mai shrugged, but she continued smiling.

Kouichi, brightened up by her mood said,"You should be cheerful more Mai. It fits you nicely."

"Thank you, but sometimes I have to be serious. Don't think just because I'm cheerful now, that will mean I'll be like that all the time." Mai replied. Kouichi shrugged, and didn't say anything.

They soon prepared to leave. "Er...where do we..." Mai began, when she heard a beeping noise coming from her pocket.

It was her D-tector. When she took it out, a holographic map appeared. Kouji and Kouichi also took out their D-tectors. The holographic map on their D-tectors showed them 3 blue dots, and a red dot.

They looked at each other and nodded, understanding what the dots stood for. Then, the trio set off on their journey.

"I think it's this way." Mai said to the other two.

The map on her D-tector showed Kouji, Kouichi, and herself, getting closer to where the red dot was. she waded through some bushes with the twins following, and spotted a cave.

_'In there?'_ all of them thought, but headed inside anyway.

The cave wasn't dark at first, but as they went deeper in it, they couldn't see the entrance to the cave anymore. There weren't any twists or turns, so they didn't run into the cave wall, but they still had trouble seeing. At one point, Mai ran into one of the guys.

"Oops, sorry." she apologized.

"We shouldn't go any farther if we can't see." Kouchi said. As if responding to his words, all of their D-tectors lit up. "Much better." he commented. The light was bright enough to light up the entire cave.

Then, they stopped. "Dead end." Mai muttered.

"Wait, what's that?!" Kouichi exclaimed. Kouji and Mai turned to see what Kouichi was talking about.

They saw...another cave wall. However, strange runes formed an arch on the wall. Mai tried to read the runes, but gave up. She looked at her D-tector and saw that the on the map, the 3 blue dots which were them, were near the red dot.

"Could this be what we're looking for?" she asked to no one in particular.

Kouji suddenly remarked,"Hey, look over there on the right." He pointed to a section of a wall, roughly the size of his thumb, and shaped like a...

"A keyhole." Mai and Kouichi said at the same time.

Then it it hit Mai. She turned to the twins and explained,"This is a doorway. That part of the wall is shaped like a keyhole, so that means this doorway leads to somewhere."

Kouichi puzzed, asked,"But to where?"

Mai shrugged and replied,"Who knows. However, without a key, we can't open the doorway."

She moved closer to the wall and examined the runes. "I wonder what these runes could mean." she muttered to herself.

Kouji frustrated, exclaimed,"This is getting us nowhere! Maybe we should forget about it, and go find the others. I don't see how this is going to lead us to the spirits, and there probably is another way to get them."

Suddenly, they heard a beeping noise coming from their D-tectors. They saw as the D-tectors emitted a brighter light, and the light went to where the runes were, making them sparkle.

Mai's eyes widened. For some reason, she was now able to read some of the runes. "No way..." she said in awe. Kouji and Kouichi asked her 'what.'

She replied hesitantly at first,"I don't know how...but I'm starting to to understand what some of these runes say. Like this one over here, stands for moon. " she pointed to a rune.

"And this one says...portal." she pointed to another rune.

"What could it mean?" Kouji asked, looking at Mai.

"Hmm...moon...portal..." Kouichi muttered, and he began pacing back and forth.

"A portal to the moon." Mai suddenly said. The words seemed to come out on their own. She felt a strange, tingling feeling in her right hand, that was holding her D-tector.

Her reflexes acted, making her hand point the D-tector at the keyhole. A silvery light came out of it and went into the heyhole. A very bright light, like starlight, filled the doorway. Mai, Kouji, and Kouichi had to cover their eyes. The light brightened, filling the entire cave.

One minute, Mai, Kouji, and Kouichi felt the bright light trying to reach their eyes, then they didn't feel anything, and uncovered their faces.

They saw darkness.

* * *

Zoe sighed. She stared deeply at her reflection in the crystal clear lake.

"What's the matter, Z?" J.P. asked her, using the nickname he made up for her.

She looked up and saw Takuya and Tommy beside him, and replied,"I don't know. It's just...I feel like al of this is my fault. If it wasn't for me, then Mai would still be at home, doing whatever she does, and not here in the Digital World, wandering around, lost."

Takuya said,"Hey, it isn't your fault. I think Mai would've still had to come to the Digital World, even without us there. Besides, she's not lost. Kouji and Kouichi are with her."

Zoe had to agree. Then she said,"But we don't know where they are. We don't even know where we are! Also, I'm getting this weird feeling that something happened to them. I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but I feel as if something happened."

"Don't sweat it Zoe. We'll find them soon enough, and we're not lost. We...just don't know where we are exactly." Takuya replied.

"Nice." J.P. commented sarcastically.

Takuya ignored him and continue,"I think you're right about that last part though. I have this strange feeling that something happened to them too."

"Yeah." J.P. and Tommy said.

Zoe smiled and said,"I guess you're right about some stuff, but face it Takuya, we're lost."

"Um yeah...look, don't worry about it though. Let's just keep moving forward!, and soon enough we'll find out where we are." Takuya replied and Zoe rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." She stood up and Takuya began walking.

He exclaimed,"All right, let's move out!"

The other three sighed, and then followed him into the forest.


	8. Houston, We Have A Problem!

**Chapter 8:Houston, We Have A Problem!**

"Hello? Mai-chan?" a voice called out. Mai opened her eyes and sat up. She rubbed her temples and looked around until she found the person who had called her name.

"You're awake." Kouichi said relieved. He was sitting on a white bed, as was Mai.

"Kouichi-kun? What's going on?" Mai asked, groaning slightly. Her head hurt and she felt very tired. Then, she saw Kouji. He was lying on a bed like them, appearing to be asleep. Mai saw Kouichi's worried face.

He explained to her,"I woke up and found myself in this room. Then I saw you guys. Hours seemed to pass, and both of you didn't wake up."

Mai nodded and then asked him,"Where are we though? Where is this room, and how did we get here?"

Kouichi gave her a sheepish look. He replied,"Uh well...you see..."

At that moment, the door opened. Mai noticed Kouichi looked slightly relieved as a digimon entered the room. She had a hamburger bun on her head(Mai raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything) with straw colored hair sticking out. Kind, black eyes stared intently at Mai, and a warm smile was plastered on the digimon's face. She also wore an apron around her waist.

"Looks like another one of you is awake." she said with a honey-like voice.

"This is Burgermon. She came in earlier to check on us, when I had barely woken up." Kouichi told her. Mai nodded and told Burgermon about Kouji.

Burgermon said worriedly,"Oh dear...still? The effects must have not worn off yet. Don't worry about it though. He'll wake up soon."

Puzzled, Mai asked,"Effects? From what?" She glanced at Kouichi who shifted uncomfortably.

Burgermon replied,"Why, from traveling. The three of you were found earlier, unconscious, on the ground. You were brought here to rest, at the base. All of us were puzzled though. We never knew humans could use the portal to get from the Digital World to the Digital Moons."

Mai's mind froze. "Hold up. Did you say portal? To the Digital Moons?" Burgermon nodded.

"You and these two young men were found outside the Moonbase on one of the Digital Moon's surface." she replied.

Slowly, Mai was grasping what she was saying. "You mean...we're on the moon? Right now?" she asked and looked bewildered at the female Burgermon and Kouichi.

Both of them nodded. Mai's memories flooded back to her and she remembered being able to read the strange runes on the cave wall. Then, she remembered a bright, silvery light filling the entire cave and how she had to cover her eyes.

"Of course. Back on the Digital World...I read the runes and then opened the portal. A portal to the moon." she said.

Burgermon then asked,"So it was you who opened it?" Mai nodded. An expression appeared on the digimon's face, of thoughfulness.

She told them,"I brought some food for you to eat. I'll be back in an hour. It is interesting what you said. A human opening the Lunar Portal. No one has ever heard of a human doing that. Hmm...I'll have to tell Superstarmon about it an have him talk to you. Meanwhile eat, and then rest some more." She brought a cart with trays of burgers, fries, and drinks.

Then, the Burgermon let. Kouichi looked at Mai who was staring at the wall, not saying anything. Gently, he said her name.

"Huh?" she looked at Kouichi. "What is it, Kouichi-kun?"

Kouichi said softly,"Back at the cave...when you said you could read the runes. Well, I looked at them, but I didn't understand them. I think only you could. Also, why would our D-tectors lead us here?"

At that moment, both of them heard movement and turned around. Kouji groaned and rubbed his forehead. He sat up and blinked several times.

"Kouichi? Mai?"

Kouichi exclaimed,"Finally, you're awake!" Kouji looked at him confused. Kouichi sighed and looked at Mai, who nodded.

"Well..." she began, and told Kouji everything that had happened. Kouji didn't say anything after she finished, and picked up a burger from the cart and started eating it. He took a sip from his drink.

"So...what should we do?' Mai asked.

Kouji looked up. "What do you mean?"

Mai replied,"Well...how are we going to get off the moon and back to the digital world? Plus we have to find the spirits."

"Why are you asking me?" Kouji asked, bewildered. Both Mai and Kouichi were now looking at him.

Mai rolled her eyes and replied,"Aren't you like supposed to take responsibility as a leader and decide stuff? I mean that Takuya guy isn't here to be the leader, which I'm sure he was on your last digital world adventure. So shouldn't you?"

Kouji understood what Mai meant, but was suprised she turned to him to decide what to do. He replied,"I...I guess so...um, yeah."

He was about to say something else when the door slid open. This time, a star-like digimon appeared and said,"Superstarmon is ready to see you now." Mai frowned. She didn't even have a chance to eat her burger yet, but she got out bed anyway. Kouji and Kouichi did the same.

The three of them followed the digimon, who introduced himself as Starmon. They walked through a hallway, and to their left and right they could see the surface of the moon through the windows of the moonbase. Starmon led them to a huge room full of machinery, with other Starmon rushing around, working on the machines.

"I brought them." Starmon said.

All of the sudden, everyone stopped working to look at Mai, Kouji, and Kouich. The three were introduced to Superstarmon. He explained many things to them.

"It was suprising when we found humans near the Lunar Portal. No digimon had been through that portal in many years, and only certain, mystical digimon could open the portal. Which one of you humans opened it?" Superstarmon asked.

Mai said hesitantly,"I...I did.'

Superstarmon looked at her with a puzzled face, and nodded as if something had been confirmed. He continued,"I'm sorry we didn't call for you earlier. All of us on the moonbase were busy trying to resolve a problem." Mai noticed he looked very worried.

She asked,"Problem?"

"For some time, we have been under attack by groups of Gotsumon lead by Monochromon. We don't know why they are attacking us, they just have. I sent out scouts to try and set an agreement, but they were attacked as well. So we have been fighting each other for awhile. Recently, I sent more scouts to gather information on the Gotsumon's attack strategy, when we found something interesting." Superstarmon replied, and paused for a few seconds.

"What did you find?" Kouichi asked, curious.

Slowly, the digimon replied,"We found...a spirit."

Kouji asked,"A spirit? What did it look like?"

"I'll show you." Superstarmon began walking out of the room. The other Starmon had gone back to work, and were busy once again.

* * *

Mai and the twin boys followed Superstarmon down the hallway, and arrived at a door. Superstarmon pushed some buttons and the door slid open. They entered the room and saw Gotsumon everywhere. The three tensed.

Superstarmon noticed their expressions and explained,"These are our allies. As I said, groups of Gotsumon have been attacking us, but not all of them have. These Gotsumon have helped us by infiltrating the enemy's camp and bringing us information."

Mai, Kouji, and Kouichi nodded. They didn't let their guard down however. They noticed movement among the Gotsumon.

"Kouji!" one of them cried. Mai heard the gravelly sound of the Gotsumon's voice. They turned to see which Gotsumon had spoken.

Kouji's eyes widened when he realized who the Gotsumon was. "Long time, no see." he chuckled.

"You know him?" Superstarmon and Mai asked at the same time.

Kouji nodded and told him and Mai,"Gotsumon helped us save the Digital World the last time I was here. He's an old friend of mine."

Mai and Superstarmon nodded.

Then Mai turned to Superstarmon and asked,"Um..weren't you going to show us the spirit?"

It was suddenly quiet. All of the Gotsumon stepped back, and created a path. Kouji, Kouichi, and Mai turned again. Mai saw Kouiji's expression change as he said softly,"That's my spirit."

Sure enough, at the end of the path, sitting on a table below a light, was the spirit of Lobomon. Kouji walked towards the spirit, and then stopped. His D-tector had begun beeping, so he took it out. He raised his D-tector, and as if by magic, the spirit rose from the table, and went into the D-tector. Kouji sighed contently, feeling as if a part of him had returned.

"Then the other spirit must belong to him..." Superstarmon muttered.

Mai turned to face Superstarmon. "Other spirit?" she asked.

"What other spirit?" Kouji and Kouichi asked.

Superstarmon hesitated, then replied,"The scouting group I had sent reported they had found two spirits. However, they were only able to retrieve one spirit. As they were about to get the other one, they were spotted, and had to escape before they were caught."

Kouichi's hands were clenched. He had a pained expression on his face.

"Kouichi-kun..." she said.

"Aniki, don't worry. We'll get your spirit." Kouji told Kouichi.

Mai and Kouichi looked at Kouji and saw he had a grin on his face. "I have a plan." Kouji announced.

* * *

"Ok. The Gotsumon should be resting about now. So now we can go in." Gotsumon told Kouji and the others.

Mai felt nervous. _'So this is how we're going to get Kouichi-kun's spirit back. It's been awhile since I've done this, infiltrating the enemy's side...except I had Silverwolfmonback then. Now...why am I going?" There's nothing I can do to help! I can defend myself, and maybe I can take out some evil digmon, but...'_

"Mai-chan, are you allright?" Kouichi asked her. Her thoughts were broken as she replied,"Yeah, I'm fine." Kouichi nodded, but he didn't believe her.

"Hey Kouji, shouldn't we be going now?" Mai asked impatiently. It was better for her to get this over with.

Kouji replied,"We have to wait for the Gotsumon scouting group to return and tell us it's safe to go."

Mai nodded and tried calming herself. She ignored Kouji who was looking at her, puzzled by her impatience.

"So..," she began,"You have a plan to retrieve Kouichi's spirit. Do you have a plan as to how we're going to get back to the Digital World?"

Kouji blinked once and replied,"Kind of."

"Kind of?' Mai looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Kouji didn't look at her now, and stared straight ahead. "Yeah. Um..Kouichi told me how you could read the runes and he couldn't, back when we were at the cave. I couldn't read them either. Well...once we get Kouichi's spirit back, we can ask Superstarmon to show us where the Lunar Portal is on the moon. Then, you can open it, and we can get back to the Digital World."

"What if it doesn't work?" Mai asked.

Kouji smiled reasuringly and replied,"It will."

Mai turned to face at something else. She thought,_'He thinks I can actually open the portal. Kouji trusts me.'_ she thought, and wondered why she felt odd all of the sudden. Her thoughts were interrupted again by the approaching Gotsumon. They told them it was safe to go on.

"Okay, then we better get going." Kouji said with a determined expression. Mai, Kouichi, and the Gatsumon that knew Kouji, nodded.

Then, the four of them headed to the enemy's side.


	9. One Small Step For Mai

**Chapter 9: One Small Step for Mai, One Giant Leap for Lunemon**

The enemy resided in a moonbase similar to Superstarmon's.

"So where are the Gotsumon and Monochromon?" Mai asked.

Gotsumon replied,"The others told me that they're having lunch and are resting over there." He pointed to a part of the moon base that was on the far right. He then said,"We're headed towards the center of the moonbase."

Kouji told them,"But we have to hurry.We only have an hour before Monochromon and the enemy Gotsumon return. Also, we have to be careful in case there are any traps."

"You really thought this out, didn't you?" Mai asked him.

Kouji looked at her, and saw that she was grinning. "Yeah." he replied.

"If all your plans are like this, then you're good at this, and actually think them through, unlike goggleboy I'm sure." she said.

The Gotsumon that was with them, pressed some buttons, and the entrance to the moonbase opened. They looked at him as to ask how he knew what to press, and he simply said,"I was a spy here, and I was given the password."

They nodded and then entered quickly. As the three followed Gotsumon through the semi-dark hallway, Kouji recalled what Mai had said, and felt heat rush to his face. He sideglanced and was relieved to see that Mai hadn't noticed. As for Kouichi..he simply winked and smiled at Kouji.

Kouji scowled, changing his expression. They continued running, taking sharp twists and turns, going around corners and tricky paths.

The three had their D-tectors out and were lookng at the maps, seeing how close they were to the spirit.

_'So that's why our D-tectors were beeping before...'_ Mai had told the guys earlier.

Kouji and Gotsumon stopped. Mai and Kouichi who were behind them, stopped as well.

"It's past this door." Kouji said loud enough for them to hear, but soft enough in case anybody else was there, wouldn't hear him. Mai and Kouichi nodded.

Gotsumon suddenly said,"There's a problem."

"What is it?" the trio asked.

"Monochromon guards this with a password only he knows. Which means if we get the password wrong, the alarm will ring, and we'll be trapped by the security system."

Kouji unintentionally swore. Mai was about to say something to him when she felt her D-tector vibrate. Silvery light was released. It entered under the doors, making them open magically.

"Whoa." Mai said amazed. The room was dark as they entered, until their D-tectors' light filled the entire room.

Kouji then told them,"There it is." Kouichi and Mai turned to see what he was talking about.

Kouichi's eyes widened and he whispered,"The spirit of Darkness, Lowemon." The spirit seemed to hover in the air.

He walked towards the spirit, raising his D-tector automatically. Just like Kouji's, the spirit went into Kouichi's D-tector. All of them sighed with relief.

"Mission accomplished." Mai remarked with a thumbs up.

"And without running into Monochromon." Gotsumon said relieved.

"Yeah, I'm glad." Kouji said.

Mai then Gotsumon,"What does Monochromon look like?"

A voice rose out of a dark area. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

The four of them froze. Then, Mai built up the courage to turn towards the voice. She realized that if they had been paying attention earlier, they might have noticed something that was odd about one of the walls.

Monochromon stepped into the light. He resembled a triceratops in a way, and his armor was black, except for the bits of red on his crest. A giant horn spouted from the bridge of his nose. His voice was low and had a growling edge to it. Mai gulped at the size of him.

Then, he gave out a deafening roar, that shook the ground.

Kouji said one word,"Run."

"What?" Mai asked.

"Run! Kouichi and I will keep him away from you and Gotsumon as you escape. Now go!" Kouji yelled.

At first she and Gotsumon didn't move.

Kouji and Kouichi both yelled at the same time,"Execute! Spirit Evolution!" Mai covered her eyes as a big, blinding, white light rose. Then, it disappeared, and in place were two warriors. Mai's mouth fell open. She couldn't help it.

_'Kouji-san? Kouichi-kun?'_ she thought.

The first legendary warrior had a face resembling a wolf's, except for the corn-yellow human hair, and the human mouth. the warrior's armor was silver,and navy blue, and on its shoulders was the symbol for Light. The wolf warrior also had a a greyish scarf around its neck, and black-blue gloves. Mai could see red eyes under the mask.

"Lobomon!" Kouji cried out.

"Kouji-san.." Mai whispered softly. She was amazed at what she was seeing, and then she turned to look at the other warrior.

The warrior of darkness had black armor, and his face resembled a lion's. Like Lobomon, he also had corn-yellow hair, though it was shaped differently, and his eyes were red as well. Mai spotted the symbol of darkness on his armor, and saw that on his shoulders, were also lions' faces. She heard him cry out his name.

"Lowemon!" Kouichi cried out.

Mai would've stayed there frozen if Gotsumon hadn't yelled her name. "Come on! It's not safe here anymore!" His yelling broke her trance, and she ran behind Gotsumon through the exit, still shocked at what she had witnessed.

* * *

"Lobo Kendo!" Lobomon cried out, as he took out a sword that emitted light. He leaped at Monochromon from above and struck with his kendo light sword. However, if had no effect on Monochromon's tough armor. Monochromon laughed.

"Is that all you've got? Here let me show you how you really do it!" Monochromon shouted and then attacked. "Volcanic Strike!"

Fireballs came out of his mouth and were shot at Lobomon. Luckily he deflected them with his light sword. He signaled to Lowemon who nodded.

"Shadow Meteor!" Lowemon released a burst of energy at Monochromon who had been cornered by Lobomon. The attack struck perfectly, and Monochromon slammed against the wall behind him, breaking it as well.

They were now outside the Moon base, and continued fighting.

* * *

Mai and Gatsumon were surrounded by hundreds of Gotsumon. Unfortunately for them, these weren't their allies. Mai could hear the Gotsumon talk about her. Some pointed and laughed while others discussed what to do with them.

Suddenly, they heard a crashing noise and turned to see part of the moon base destroyed. They saw Monochromon lying on his back, and Lobomon and Lowemon come out of the hole Monochromon made in the Moon base wall.

"Did they get him?" she asked no one in particular.

Her question was answered when Monochromon got up. He let out a deafening roar. It was soo loud, that all of them had to cover their ears, including the two Legendary Warriors. This was Monochromon's chance. He charged at them, and knocked them back against the outside of the Moon base wall.

"Kouji, Kouichi!" Mai cried. She wanted to help them, but didn't know how.

_'If only Silverwolfmon was here, then she could help.'_ Mai thought. Then, she got an idea. It was a stupid one, that would probably get her badly hurt, but it would help the twins.

Mai got past the hundreds of Gotsumon, and went behind Monochromon yelling,"Hey you stupid dinosaur!"

Suddenly, it was deathly quiet. The Gotsumon all stared at her. She heard a Gotsumon whisper,"She's in trouble now."

Monochromon turned around to face her, and roared even louder. He hit her with his armored tail, sending her several yards back.

"Mai!" Kouji yelled.

"Now's our chance Lobomon!" Lowemon cried. Lobomon nodded. They quickly positioned themselves behind Monochromon.

"Howling Laser!" Lobomon cried, and released energy from the weapon on his left wrist.

Lowemon cried,"Shadow Meteor!" and released energy as well. Their attacks directly hit Monochromon, knocking him several yards forward, but not towards Mai.

Mai groaned as she got up. Luckily for her, nothing had broken when Monochromon hit her with his tail. She saw Lobomon and Lowemon hit Monochromon, and gave them a thumbs-up.

They were about to reply back, when they saw a light come from Monochromon.

"Oh no, he's evolving!" the Gotsumon on their side cried out.

He was right. The light that was coming from Monochromon disappeared, and in place was another digimon that looked like a Gotsumon, except it was white, and much, much bigger.

"It's Lord Meteormon!" the enemy Gotsumon shouted.

Meteormon turned to face Lobomon and Lowemon. They saw he had a smirk plastered on his face. "Get ready to face my true power!" he shouted.

_'Oh no!'_ thought Mai.

Meteormon rose into the air, and raised his arms. Mai and the others could see swirling matter appear above Meteormon's head. He cried,"Cosmo Flash!"

Beams were shot at Kouji and Kouichi from the swirling matter. They weren't able to dodge it, and were struck very fiercely. The twins despirit evolved back into their human forms, and were lying on the ground, badly bruised.

"Heh." Meteormon said, as he landed on the Moon's surface. He walked towards the twins and was about to step on them when he heard a shout.

"No, don't!" Mai cried. Meteormon turned to look at her, as did the Gotsumon.

Mai's head was facing down. She said loud enough for Meteormon to hear,"Don't hurt them."

Meteormon laughed, causing the other Gotsumon to laugh. He asked her,"What are you going to do if I do?" Raising his foot again, he rested it on the twins, and pressed down. They yelled in pain.

Mai looked up. She had her hands clenched into fists, and she bit her lip. This time she shouted,"Leave them alone, you stupid pile of rocks!"

The Digimon igored her and continued pressing down. Mai had tears coming down her face, though she didn't mean to cry. It was as if she could feel the pain Kouji and Kouichi were feeling.

"Kouji, Kouichi!" she yelled, her voice echoing accross the Moon's surface.

Then, she heard a beeping noise come from her pocket. Mai took out her D-tector. The Moon began to glow brightly, and then something rose out from it. Everyone except Mai had to cover their eyes because of the light.

As Mai looked at the thing that was hovering in front of her, she heard a soothe gentle voice say,_'Don't worry. You can still help.' _For some reason, she felt reassured by the voice.

The thing hovering in front of her, went into her D-tector, and on the screen, Mai saw the symbol for the Moon.She heard a voice say,"It is time."

"Execute! Spirit Evolution!" A band of digicode appeared around her hand. She brought it up to her D-tector, and swiped it across the top. The digicode surrounded her, giving her a warm feeling.

"Lunemon!" she cried out. The light disappeared.

"Who are you?" Meteormon asked. He turned to look at Mai. The Gotsumon had their eyes and mouths wide open.

Kouji, and Kouichi groaned and they managed to look over to where they were looking. Their eyes widened, and both of their mouths dropped open when they looked at the figure several yards in front of them, that was now walking towards them.

"I am the Legendary Warrior of the Digital Moons, Lunemon." Mai said.

Lunemon's face was half covered by a silver mask. Her sparkling, midnight hair flowed behind her. She wore metallic armor, that shone brightly. On her back, she carried a quiver of arrows along with her bow, and on her side, she had a long broadsword ready for use.

She continued,"Meteormon, why are you doing this? Attacking the other Moonbase, attacking your fellow digimon. Are you trying to start a war?" Her gentle, but sharp voice, reached out to everyone on the Moon.

Meteormon chuckled. He replied,"I am only carrying out the orders that are given to me."

"Orders? Who ordered you to do this?" Lunemon asked.

She received no reply from Meteormon who merely laughed.

"Then let us fight." she said. Lunemon ran at an unimaginable speed towards Meteormon, and leaped into the air. She quickly took out her broadsword, and swung it at Meteormon, and struck his rocky armor.

The digimon cried out in pain. The Gotsumon turned and spotted Lunemon. "She's fast." they whispered among themselves.

"Cosmo Flash!" Meteormon growled, aiming for her.

Lunemon easily dodged the attack, and appeared out of nowhere in front of Meteormon. She jumped back several feet, and took out her bow, with a couple of arrows, putting her sword back up.

"It doesn't matter how hard your armor is, my arrows will still pierce through." she said. Lunemon nocked an arrow on her bow, and pulled back the string.

She released the string, shooting the arrow and cried,"Lunar Crystal Arrow!"

Meteormon barely turned around, as the arrow struck him. He cried out in pain.

_'What's that?'_ Lunemon thought as she saw dark matter leave Meteormon, and head towards the Digital World. His data appeared, and she took out her D-tector.

"Be purified by the moonlight Meteormon. Digicode Scan!" Monochromon's data entered her D-tector, and a digiegg replaced the dinosaur digimon. The digiegg headed towards the Digital World, and then was gone.

Lunemon despirit evolved back into Mai. The Gotsumon were silent, and then suddenly cheered.

"Mai, are you allright?" she heard a voice say, and looked up to see Kouji and Kouichi standing in front of her.

"Yeah...what just happened?" she asked them.

Kouji and Kouichi chuckled and replied as they helped her get up to her feet,"We'll explain later."


	10. Return To the Digital World

**Chapter 10: Return To The Digital World**

"How much more do we have to walk?" Kouichi asked, already tired, and they had barely left the Moonbase.

"I don't know. Superstarmon said that once we spotted the crater with rocket remains, the portal should be in that crater." Gotsumon replied.

Kouichi and Gotsumon were in the front, and they began discussing about various things as they walked. Kouji and Mai were behind them, but they were silent, until Mai spoke.

"I still can't believe it...I spirit evolved. The feeling when I spirit evolved, was incredible. The feeling of confidence, and the strange warmth." she said to Kouji, since the other two were deep in their conversation.

Then she asked him,"Is that how you felt, when it happened to you?"

Kouji nodded and replied,"You describe the feeling well. Well, now we have our human spirits. Now we have to find the others, that is, if you want to meet up with them."

Mai didn't reply. She looked ahead at where they were going. Then she told him,"I'm not sure yet. Even though I found my spirit, and know I can really help you guys, I still don't know. I mean, you guys are pretty easy to talk to, but I'm not sure if it will be the same with the others, _especially_ with Takuya."

"I see. Well, like Kouichi said,we'll stick with you until you're ready to meet up with the others." Kouji said, while Mai rolled her eyes.

She asked rhetorically,"Not you too? Look, I can protect myself. I'm not some helpless female who needs help from a guy."

Kouji grinned and then said,"You're probably right, now that I remember how you fought Meteormon. I've never seen anyone of us go that fast in our spirit forms. You were probably faster than when I'm in my beast spirit form."

"Uh, thanks." Mai replied, and felt her face go hot.

She quickly recomposed her face and thought,_'Was I about to blush? Why though? Sure he complimented me, but I'm sure anyone else might've said that. Then why did I feel like jumping for joy when he said that?'_

"Mai-san?" Kouji asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking of something. Anyway, when I defeated Meteormon, I noticed something." Mai said, changing the subject. Kouji asked her what she noticed.

She told him,"As I was purifying him, I noticed this dark matter leave his body, and head towards the Digital World. Did that ever happen when you guys were purifying a digimon?"

Kouichi and Gotsumon were listening now to their conversation. Kouji and Kouichi shook their heads.

"I never remember that happening. What do you think the dark matter was?" Kouichi asked. Kouji frowned, pondering about it.

Mai told them,"I think that...well I could be wrong, but when I asked Meteormon why he was attacking the Moonbase, he said his Master ordered him to. He didn't reply when I asked him who his Master was though. Maybe, the new evil threat in the Digital World. I bet it's Meteormon's Master, and he's using that dark matter to make digimon evil."

Mai waited for them to say something, but received no reply. She thought,_'I shouldn't have said that. They probably think my idea is stupid and will laugh at me now.'_

However, that didn't happen. Kouichi told her,"Wow, you came up with that with just that one battle? That's...amazing Mai-chan." Kouji nodded, agreeing with him.

"You...you think it's a good theory?" Mai asked, suprised.

They nodded and replied,"Yeah, it is."

Gotsumon said,"I don't think I would have realized that, even if I had fought Monochromon. I probaby wouldn't have though much about the dark matter, thinking it was some space thing."

"Oh..ok. Thanks guys." Mai replied. They continued walking.

Kouji and Kouichi then realized something.

"Mai, you never told us your story about how you knew about the Digital World, back when we were on the train. I mean later you told us about your digimon, but how did you find out about the Digital World?" Kouichi asked.

She didn't say anything at first. Then she began,"The story is very long. Well, actually, you could say there's 3 stories, because I had three different adventures in DigiWorld."

Kouichi then asked her,"If you don't mind, can you tell us?"

Mai replied,"I don't mind.After telling you guys about Silverwolfmon, I guess I could tell you the whole thing. Not right now though. Lets find the Lunar Portal first, get back to the Digital World, and then I'll tell you. As for the others, if I ever decide that I want to join all of ya'll, I'll tell them as well."

Kouichi nodded and said,"Ok. However, if it takes you a long time to decide, then me and Kouji will take you to join them, whether you like it or not. Even if we have to drag you, we will."

Mai couldn't help but laugh. She produced a clear peal of laughter, that amazed Kouji, Kouichi and Gotsumon.

"Hey guys, are you ok?" Mai asked, once she was done laughing. She waved a hand in front of their faces, breaking the trance they were in.

"Huh?" they said.

"Ok..." Mai said aloud while she thought,_'Dang it, not again!'_

"You have a really nice laugh." Kouichi commented, with a smile on his face. Gotsumon nodded, while Kouji didn't say anything.

Mai replied,"You're the one who made me laugh in a long time Kouichi." She said it with a smile on her face, and she felt more lightened after laughing.

Kouichi was about to say something when Mai suddenly announced,"Hey, there it is!" She pointed to the crate, and ran towards it, but accidentally slipped and fell in it.

"Mai!" they cried out, and went after her, sliding down the crate.

Mai groaned as she got up, rubbing her head. Kouichi asked her if she was ok, and Mai nodded.

"Nothing hurt." she replied, and began walking around the crater, in search for the Lunar Portal. Kouji, Kouichi, and Gotsumon nodded, and began searching for it as well.

* * *

"Guys, I found it!" Gotsumon cried out, waving at him. The other three came quickly to where Gatsumon was.

He told them,"I accidentally knocked this part of the rocket, and saw there was a secret entrance behind it. The Lunar Portal has to be in here."

They went in the secret entrance, and began walking. Mai was about to say something about the light, when their D-tectors lit up, and filled the entire passageway with light. The four continued walking, taking several twists and turns, until they came to a dead end.

"No way, there's nothing here!" Kouichi exclaimed.

Mai suggested,"Maybe the Portal is hidden. We should look around and see if we find anything." They nodded and began searching.

Looking at the walls, Mai was trying to find hidden runes, or a keyhole, remembering what the portal on the Digital World looked like. As she searched, she noticed how old the passageway was.

_'Superstarmon was right. This place looks like it hasn't been used in years. I wonder though, why could only I read the runes on the other portal? How was I able to open the portal? I'm not even sure if I'll be able to open it now...but Kouji said I could do it. He could be right, but wait, why do I care what he thinks?'_ Mai thought to herself, arguing over certain thoughts. She was too busy thinking, that she accidentally hit one of the walls of the passageway's dead end.

"Oww." she said, when she hit it. Suddenly, the wall lifted, revealing another entrance.

"No way. Kouji, Kouichi, Gotsumon!" she exclaimed to the others. They came over where she was, and were just as suprised.

Kouichi said,"Looks like you were right Mai. The Portal is hidden after all." He went in, and was followed by the others.

They only had to walk a few steps, when they saw it. On the wall, were similar runes, forming an arch. The twins nodded to Mai, who stepped forward to look at the runes. Immediately, the answer to her doubts about reading the runes were confirmed.

"I don't believe it. I can still read it." she said to the others, and then turned her attention to the runes, trying to decode what it said.

She muttered,"Lunar portal...moon...house? No...village.mmhmmm. Hidden? Hmm..."

"Well?" Kouichi asked, when she stopped examining the runes.

Mai replied,"I see some runes I can read,but some are faded away, and I can't read those. I don't know how I'm supposed to open it though."

"How about, _'Open Sesame?'_ " Kouichi suggested.

"Ha ha, very funny." Mai replied sarcastically.

She sighed, and closed her eyes so she could concentrate on what she read in the runes. Then, slowly but surely, she felt a warmth in her right hand which held her D-tector.

Mai heard exclaims from the others, but paid no attention, focusing even more on the warm feeling she felt inside of her. Mai began saying something that the others didn't understand, and then she finished.

"Wha..?" they looked at her confused.

Mai was about to say something, when a silver light came from her D-tector, and went to the runes. The light spun around, and went into the wall. The four of them could see a small hole appearing, in the shape of a...

"It's a keyhole!" Kouichi exclaimed.

The silver light came out of the inside of the wall, and went into the keyhole. Again, the place they were in was filled with a very bright light, forcing them to cover their eyes. This time, Mai could feel herself being pulled into the Portal, and she heard a voice.

_'Do not be afraid.'_ it said.

_'Why would I be afraid?'_ she thought, hoping the voice could hear her.

It did and replied,_'Soon, you will find out. There is someone important you will meet, a someone who can help. Then, you will find out your true past and everything will become clears. Remember Ami...remember Mai...remember...K...' _the voice went away, and Mai saw darkness.


	11. The Hidden Moon Village

**Chapter 11: The Hidden Moon Village**

_"You're a very good friend of mine Am...Mai. Don't forget that.I'm sure that someday we'll see each other again,and have new adventures, whether in Digiworld or the Real World. Promise you won't forget about me." the girl said. _

"I promise." Mai said.

The girl smiled and said,"Try to be more outgoing."

Mai laughed and replied,"I'll try. You try to be less innocent."

"Ha ha, allright." the girl replied. 

Mai sat up, breathing heavily. She pushed some strands of hair that were in her face, to the side. Then, she looked at where she was.

1)She was alone.

_'What? Where's Kouji, and Kouichi, and Gotsumon?'_ she thought.

2)Mai noticed she was in a grassy field, that never seemed to end. The first thing she decided to do was to search for the others. Finally,  
3)She was also thinking about the dream she had and what it meant.

_'I'm still keeping that promise. I still remember you, and I'm improving myself by being outgoing, just like you said. If only you could see me now...'_ Mai thought. She began walking along the grassy field, searching and searching. Then, she took out her D-tector. It didn't do anything. No noise, or light, nothing.

_'What? What's wrong with this thing?'_ she thought, frustrated, and began pushing the buttons on it.

Mai was too busy messing with her D-tector, that she didn't notice a mysterious shape in the grass. Suddenly, Mai felt tired all of the sudden. She yawned, muttered something, and fell on the grass, asleep.

* * *

"What should we do with it?" a voice asked. It was clear like a bell.

Another voice then exclaimed,"It's waking up!"

Mai groaned, and rubbed her forehead. Then, she looked around. The first thing she saw were dark shapes. After she wiped her eyes, her vision was clearer, and the shapes turned out to be digimon.

The first one she saw looked like rabbit, except it had four ears. Two of them were where rabbits' ears usually were, but the othert two were hanging on the side of its head, sort of sticking out. An antenna stuck out of of its forehead where there was a crescent moon. The rabbit-like digimon also had crescent moons on its arms, and a large one on its stomach, which on top of was a pink ribbon with a moon charm. It didn't have any feet, yet it seemed to be able to walk. On its hands, were tiny claws.

The other ones also looked like a rabbit, but they were taller. They also had four ears, an antena, a moon necklace,though the chain was silver, and crescent moons on their body. There were stickups of arrows on their backs. These digimon wore a silver helmet, black gloves, had pink ribbons hanging behind them, and they had feet with claws at the end.

"Wh..what's going on?" Mai asked, as she sat up.

The digimon talked amongst each other, when they heard her talk.

"It can talk?" one of them said.

"What do you think it is?" another one asked. They didn't seem to notice Mi looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

"I might not have an idea of what's going on, but to answer your questions:  
1) Yes I can talk.  
2)I'm a human." she replied.

They looked at her in suprise, and came over to where she was, which was laying in a bed. Mai wondered where she was, along with what was happening.

Seeing they didn't say anything, Mai asked,"Have you seen my friends. They kinda look like me. Two legs, wearing clothes like me?"

The small, rabbit-digimon with no feet jumped onto the bed and came closer to where Mai was, as if she was inspecting her. She grabbed a strand of her hair and pulled it.

"Ow! Stop that!" Mai yelled. The digimon backed away.

"What's a human?" the digimon suddenly asked, after thinking about what she said.

Mai looked at them, saying nothing. She thought,_'What kind of digimon are these?'_

"We're digimon from the Hidden Moon Village." the small digimon replied.

"What? How..how did you know what I was thinking?" Mai asked suprised. Then, remembering what the digimon said, she asked,"Hidden Moon Village? That's in the Digital World right?"

"Yes. I am Lunamon, and this is some of my family, friends, and other digimon from the village. They are Lekismon." the digimon replied.

"We also have Crescemon in our village. Unfortunately, our leader of this village, Dianamon left the village to go to a council held in another part of the Digital World." a Lekismon told Mai.

"Council?" Mai asked.

The Lekismon replied,"Dianamon is one of the Olympus 12. They are strong, mega digimon, with power almost as strong as a god's. The Olympus 12 hold a council every certain amount of years. What they decide there, is a mystery, but it has been a very long time since Dianamon left. She should have returned to our village a long time ago."

Mai nodded, and then another question came to mind. "Why is the village called the Hidden Moon Village?"

The digimon didn't reply. They heard what she said, but were deep in thought.

Finally, Lunamon replied,"I wasn't here when it happened,since I was still a digi-egg, but long ago, our people lived on the Digital Moons, scattered on each one. We lived there happily for quite some time, and would occasionally meet at the largest village, on the blue Digital Moon. Then, one day, something came to the Digital Moons during one of our festivities, and attacked the village."

A Lekismon continued the story,"We are generally peaceful digimon, but we will fight to defend if we have to. A great battle soon began on the blue Digital Moon. We received help from some of the other digimon living on the moon, fight the thing that was attacking. Then, our great Mistress, the very first leader of all out villages, rose up to fight the thing, by herself. She told us not to risk our lives, and that she would fight it by herself, to defend her home."

Another Lekisimon then said,"Our Mistress fought with everything she had, unfortunately, she only defeated part of the thing that was attacking us. The rest disappeared, and was never seen by our villages again. Unfortunately, our Mistress had used up most of her energy. She told us she would send us to the Digital World, in a place where we could hide and live peacefully. She offered to the other digimon if they wanted to go, but they refused, saying they would protect their homes on the Digital Moons. So we were sent here, hidden from the rest of the Digital World, and from the thing that attacked our old home."

"And your Mistress?" Mai asked.

The Lekismon looked down, not replying. Lunamon saw he wouldn't reply, so she told Mai,"She went back to the Digital Moons, for she wanted to protect it as well, in case the thing came back. We never saw her after that."

Mai then said,"Me and my friends came from the blue Digital Moon. We somehow arrived there when we found this portal. Then, we helped the digimon there with a problem they had, and after it was solved, we went through another portal. I found myself in this grassy field, and then found myself again, here. I don't know where my friends are however."

The digimon looked at her with widened eyes.

Lunamon exclaimed,"You were there?! At one of the Digital Moons?!" Her eyes widened even more when Mai nodded.

"Then you must have seen her! Our Mistress, our leader!" the Lekismon exclaimed louder.

"I might have. What was her name?" Mai asked.

"She is both a great warrior, and a wise digimon. The legendary warrior of the moon, Lunemon!" they all cried at the same time.

Mai's breath and mind froze. She said slowly,"L..u..n..e..m..o..n? That's your Mistress's name?"

They all nodded eagerly and waited for what she was going to say. Mai took a deep breath, and then let it out.

She began,"I wish I knew what happened to Lunemon when she returned to the Digital Moons, because well...I somehow found her spirit, and was able to spirit evolve into Lunemon."

Silence followed after Mai finished talking. She felt nervous not knowing what Lunamon and the Lekismon were thinking.

'What if they don't believe me?' she thought, and was worried even more.

"So you're Lunemon then?" Mai noticed Lunamon ask.

Mai replied,"I guess if you look at it way, then yeah."

"Then our Mistress has returned!" the Lekismon exclaimed.

"Huh?" Mai was confused. This wasn't what she expected.

The Lekismon repeated what they said, only louder that the rest of the village heard,"Our Mistress Lunemon has returned from the Digital Moons to be our leader again!"

"Wait, what? No, I just..." but Mai's voice was ignored as everyone looked at her in awe.

Mai sighed and thought,_'What have I got myself into?'_

* * *

"Oh no..." Kouichi groaned. 

"What?" Kouji asked.

Kouichi replied,"We've been this way before."

His brother raised and eyebrow and asked,"How do you know?"

"I dropped this red string and left a trail, so if we got lost, we could follow the string to go back to where we were." Kouichi told him.

"So we've been walking around in circles!" Kouji shouted angrily, though at the same time he wondered why Kouichi had red string in his pocket.

Kouichi told him to calm down. He then said,"I wonder why our D-tectors won't respond. How are we supposed to find Mai if our D-tectors don't work?"

"I don't know." Kouji replied.

They had been walking in the forest for what seemed hours, and had been calling out Mai's name. Kouichi then spotted a lake and went running towards it, hoping to find Mai there. Kouji called out after him to wait, as he ran behind him.

"Mai! Mai, are you here?!" Kouichi and Kouji shouted.

No reply. The twins sighed and decided to rest. Kouji went and rested against a tree. Kouichi went nearby the lake. As they rested, they couldn't help but feel that this place was familiar.

"Kouji? Do you remember beeing here before?" Kouichi asked.

Kouji shook his head replying,"No, but for some reason it feels like I have. I'm pretty certain I haven't been here before. Maybe it's deja vu or something."

His older brother nodded and commented,"This lake is really huge. Hey, maybe there's some hidden village in the water!"

Rolling his eyes, Kouji replied,"Yeah, sure." Sometimes he wondered where his brother got his ideas from.

_'I blame television. Well not all of it. Just the stuff he sees on TV, and maybe the movies he sees, and the books he reads.'_ Kouji thought.

As he was thinking this, Kouichi meanwhile, was looking at his reflection in the tremendous lake. He thought,_'Kouji's right. It might be deja vu or something, but I do feel as this place is familiar. I wonder why?'_

Then he spotted something moving in the water. His eyes widened and he quickly stood up. Kouichi yelled,"Kouji, there's some..."

Kouichi didn't get to finish his sentence. Something grabbed out at his feet, and pulled him into the water, making a large splash. Kouji snapped out of a daydream he was having and cried out Kouichi's name. He ran towards the lake, and jumped in the water.

Immediately after he jumped in, Kouji suddenly felt tired. He could barely keep his eyes open. Kouji saw shapes in the water but couldn't identify them. Too tired to think about them, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.


	12. Luna Royale

**Chapter 12: Luna Royale**

Kouji opened his eyes to find himself in a nicely decorated room, and on a soft, comfy bed. He saw Kouichi on another bed, sleeping peacefully, mumbling something about chocolate. Kouji raised an eyebrow, and shook his head.

At that moment, a Lekismon entered the room. It muttered to himself as he placed some food next to Kouji and Kouichi's bed,"What strange looking these humans are."

"I can hear you." Kouji said aloud. The Lekismon looked suprised and quickly left the room.

_'What was that about?'_ he thought, but decided not to think much about it. Kouji heard his brother wake up and turned to face him.

Yawning, Kouichi asked Kouji,"What's up?"

Kouji sighed and replied,"I don't know."

Then they saw a rabbit-like digimon come into the room. The digimon jumped onto Kouji's bed and looked at him. Kouji raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Hmm...both of you do look like what _she_ described..." the digimon muttered.

"What?" Kouji asked.

The digimon heard him talk and replied,"I'm sorry, I forgot my manners. I am Lunamon. The digimon that came in earlier was Lekismon. If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?"

"Kouji Minamoto. This is my older brother Kouichi Kimura." Kouji told Lunamon.

"Nice to meet you. Um..what did you mean we look like what she described? Who's _'she'_?" Kouichi asked.

Lunamon replied,"Come with me so you can meet her, though I'm sure you've met before." She jumped out of the bed, and landed on her 'feet'.

Kouichi shrugged when Kouji gave him an inquiring look. They both got out of the bed, and followed Lunamon out of the room, which turned out to be a small digimon village house. Kouji and Kouichi looked around in awe at the digimon village. There were other digimon that looked like the Lekismon Kouji had seen, and like Lunamon who was now far ahead of them.

She turned around and shouted to them,"Hurry up!"

The digimon in the village stopped to look at the humans who were running to catch up with Lunamon. They whispered among themselves as the twins passed by them.

Finally, they arrived at a house that was much bigger than the others. There were several Lekismon surrounding it. Kouji guessed they were guards for whoever lived in the house. A digimon came out of the house to welcome the guests.

"Welcome humans. I am Crescesmon. I see Lunamon brought you here." Crescesmon said giving Lunamon a look.

"Yes, but why were we brought here?" Kouji asked.

Crescesmon replied,"We are to take you to our leader immediately." She motioned for them to follow her inside. The guards nodded to them as they entered the house.

_'It looks like one of our houses back at home.'_ Kouichi thought.

"Really? That is interesting to know." Crescesmon said aloud, suprising Kouichi.

"How did you...how did you know what I was thinking?" he asked her. Kouji gave him a puzzled look.

Crescesmon didn't reply, continued walking. She brought them to door.

"Our Mistress is inside. I warn you not to do anything you'll regret, otherwise..." Crescesmon's voice trailed off.

The twins wondered what she meant, and then went inside the room once she opened it. Lunamon followed behind.

They looked amazed at the room,. It was nicely decorated. The walls were painted midnight blue with stars and a moon design. There were two glass doors that seemed to lead outside to a balcony, as well as a bed that was neatly made, and other things. The twins heard footsteps coming from outside and turned to see Mai enter the room. Their eyes widened, and it took Kouji most of his willpower to not let his mouth drop.

Mai had her dark hair hanging loose, curled. She was wearing a midnight blue kimono with a silver belt tied around her waist. There were crescent moon and star decorations on it. She wore something on her feet that resembled clogs and flip-flops, known as geta. She froze when she saw Kouji and Kouichi.

"Kou...ji, Kou..ichi?" she whispered.

"Err..." Kouji began when Kouichi cut in.

"You look nice Mai-chan." he said with a smile. Kouji glared at him, then quickly remembered Mai was there. However the only one who noticed his glare was Lunamon.

Mai blushed and replied softly,"Thank you..." She looked down at her feet.

_'Why now, at all times!!!? Why?!'_ she thought.

_'Oh, so you __**didn't**__ want them to see you wearing that?'_ Lunamon asked in her mind.

_'Don't do that, and no of courseI didn't want them to! I didn't even know they were coming!'_ Mai exclaimed in her mind.

_'Oh, I guess I should've have knocked then.'_ Lunamon thought.

Mai replied,_'You think? Aghhh, what should I do?'_

Lunamon had an idea. She said aloud,"Why don't you guys follow me to the kitchen? You must be hungry."

Kouichi nodded and replied,"I know I am. What about you Kouji?"

"Not rea.." he began before Lunamon interrupted.

"Of course he is. Who knows how long the two of you were wandering around, separated from your friend. Come!" she motioned for them to follow. Kouichi went behind her, while Kouji walked reluctantly. He first waited for the other two to leave, and then he turned to Mai.

He said hesitantly,"Um..like Kouichi...you look, uh, nice in that kimono. The colors suit you." Kouji quickly left before Mai could reply.

All she could do was sit down on her bed, and stare, openmouthed, at where Kouji was a second ago.

_'Did..did he really, just say that?'_ she thought.

_'It did sound like it to me.'_ a voice that wasn't hers, replied in her mind.

* * *

Kouji and Kouichi turned to see Mai enter the room they were in. She didn't meet their eyes, and sat down at the table.

Kouichi noticed how quiet it was, and decided to strike up a conversation. "We finally found you Mai. It was difficult at first because our D-tectors wouldn't work, and then we were near this lake. I remember something pulling me underwater, and I woke up to find myself in a bed. Then, we followed Lunamon, and well, yeah."

Mai nodded and replied,"After we went through the portal, I found myself in a grassy field. Then, I suddenly felt tired, and closed my eyes. When I woke up, I was also in a bed, but I found digimon staring at me when I woke up. We had an...interesting conversation."

"Really? What was it about?" Kouichi asked. He nudged at Kouji who said,"Hmm? Oh, uh yeah. What did you talk about?"

Mai sighed and began telling them. When she was finished the twins stared at her in amazement.

Kouichi was able to say,"They think you're their Mistress Lunemon? But you only have her spirit, you're not really her."

"That's what I was trying to explain to them, but they wouldn't listen. So I've been stuck here for awhile. I can't leave because they'll know. These digimon can read minds." Mai told the twins. Kouji was meanwhile wondering, though not thinking it directly if they heard what he told Mai.

_'Duh.'_ Lunamon replied. Kouji frowned, wanting to bang himself against a wall.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Kouichi asked.

Mai shrugged and replied,"I don't know, but it might be awhile before we meet up with the others. I just hope not too long."

They turned to see several Lekismon come into the dining room with plates of food.

"We hope this meal will suit your taste, Mistress Lunemon and guests." they chorused together.

Mai had a blank look on her face when they called her _'Mistress Lunemon.'_ Kouichi thanked them, and Kouji glared at the Lekismon, for not knowing their names.

"Itadakimasu." the three then said, and began eating their meal.

* * *

"Mmm, that was good!" Kouichi commented at the food they had eaten. Kouji had to agree though he wasn't too happy. Throughout the meal, Lunamon would ask him several questions,telepathically, about his life, including about Mai.

_'Why do you feel akward around her?'_ she had asked, and received no reply from him. Lunamon had sighed, and left the room, much to Kouji's relief.

Kouichi then asked Mai,"Why can't you leave?"

Mai replied,"There's some kind of ceremony being prepared, and I have to be there. Even after it's over though, I'll be needed to do various tasks, as the Hidden Moon Village's leader."

"Well, as we figure out a way to leave, remember what you said on the Digital Moon." Kouichi told her.

"What did I say?" Mai asked, not knowing what he meant.

"You said you would tell us how you knew about the Digital World." Kouichi replied.

Mai had a far-off look in her eye, and then she nodded saying,"Oh right. Well, I guess I can start now. Let's go to the library, it'll be much quieter there."

Kouichi's face brightened, and Kouji groaned, knowing what was coming.

"You have a library?" Kouichi asked.

"Of course." Mai nodded, puzzled at why Kouji had groaned.

"Then let's go!" Kouichi exclaimed, and grabbed both of their hands, pulling them out of the dining room, until he realized he had no idea where the library was. Mai sighed and lead the way.


	13. Witchmon

**Chapter 13:Witchmon**

Mai sat down on a comfy sofa. Kouji and Kouichi also sat down on different sofas.

"So what do you want me to tell you? I said there were three different stories, each of them long." Mai asked them.

"Why don't you tell them about _her_?" Lunamon asked, as she came in the library. It was one of the largest rooms in the house. Hundreds of books were in shelves, surrounding them. Some of them were to high to reach without a ladder of some kind. Mai glared at Lunamon, but didn't say anything.

"_Her_?" Kouji and Kouichi asked. They looked at Mai, wondering what Lunamon meant.

Mai replied,"Sure, why not? Well, remember how I said back before our sidetrip to the Digital Moon, how it wasn't easy for me to make friends?"

They nodded, remembering.

"Well, yeah...For some reason that I don't know of, before I was 10 years old and met her, other girls would look at me funny. They would talk not only behind my back, but to my face. I would move around a lot, so I would change schools frequently. I don't know who took care of me, or my house. School was the most I could remember of my life,before I turned 10. I felt as if people hated me for an unknown reason. It may sound like I'm exaggerating, but they really did. I don't know why, because I don't remember doing anything to them. They just simply hated me. I still have horrible memories of back then, of what they did, but I'm not sharing those."

Kouji and Kouichi were both thinking,_'People were mean to Mai?'_

_'Why? She's a nice person. Why would people be mean to her?'_ Kouichi thought.

_'Based on the memories/thoughts from you three, I'm guessing some people are just like that.'_ Lunamon replied only to Kouichi. He remembered Mai telling them about the digimon in the Hidden Moon Village, and how they could read minds, so he wasn't as suprised as he was a moment ago.

Mai continued,"Her name was Kari Kamiya. She had an older brother named Tai Kamiya. They lived in an apartment, in Odaiba, Japan, and they were some of the nicest people I have ever met. Kari...she always had a cheerful, kind personality. She never seemed to be sad or angry, or any other negative emotion. She was also the first friend I had ever made."

_'Kari Kamiya...'_ the twins thought, wondering if they had ever heard of her before.

They listened to Mai, as she told them how she met Kari and his brother. She gave other names, and continued on with the story. Soon, after what seemed hours, she finished the story, leaving them to their thoughts.

"This is only one of the stories, right?" Kouji asked her. Mai nodded, and Kouji chuckled, wondering how long the other two were.

Mai was about to begin the next story when the doors to the library opened suddenly. Crescesmon burst in, making a large noise.

"Mistress Lunemon! Mistress Lunemon!" she cried out.

"Uh, what is it?" Mai asked, though slightly annoyed for not being called by her human name.

"I'm not sure how, but an unknown digimon entered our hidden village, and has begun attacking!" Crescesmon exclaimed.

Mai immediately jumped out of her seat. She asked Crescesmon where the attack was happening, and after receiving a reply, she turned to Kouji and Kouichi who nodded. They ran out of the library and headed to where the village was being attacked.

* * *

The area being attacked consisted of a few temples, that formed a circle, and were next to a grand, illustrious lake. When Mai and the two boys arrived, they saw that 2 of the temples were in ruins. Then, they saw a blur moving in the sky.

"What is that?" Mai asked, squinting, trying to figure out what the blur was.

Her question was soon answered when the figure landed on the ground. It was a witch-like digimon with red clothing, except for the black cape. She held a broomstick at her side.

"Who are you?" Kouji demanded.

The digimon cackled and replied,"Witchmon I am." She then said,"Humans? In the Digital World? Well no matter!"

Witchmon jumped on her broom, and flew up into the air, cackling again. Mai, Kouji, and Kouichi took out their D-tectors. They spirit evolved and waited to see what Witchmon would do.

"Aquari pressure!" She yelled, and water from the tremendous lake rushed towards then. It was too fast for them to dodge, hitting them directly.

Lunemon groaned, but quickly got up. She told Lobomon and Lowemon,"This isn't good. If she can use the lake water for this attack, and the attack is this strong, well...it'll be tough to beat her."

_'It doesn't matter. You three can't let her destroy those temples.'_ Lunemon/Mai heard in her mind. The other two heard as well.

_'Lunamon?'_

_'Who else?. Now listen, you also have to get Witchmon away from that lake. Not only because of her attack, but because of that lake's use. If she uses all the water, you won't be able to leave the village and find your friends.'_ Lunamon told them.

_'What? What do you mean?'_ the three all asked at the same time.

_'Now's not the time for me too explain. Watch out!'_ Lunamon warned, and the three just barely dodged Witchmon's attack.

"Why are you attacking this village?" Lunemon asked angrily. "The digimon here did nothing to you!"

"I was feeling a bit bored to tell you the truth. But now that I have found humans here...I'm not as bored as I was before. My Lady will be eager when she finds out of your existence." Witchmon said wickedly. She added, sighing,"Then that means I can't destroy you right now. No matter, I shall enjoy myself as much as I can with you humans that can turn into digimon."

_Wham!_ Witchmon was knocked off her broom by one of Lunemon's Lunar Crystal Arrows. She got up angrily, and mounted her broom oncemore.

"You shall pay for your incompetence." she said seethingly, and then shouted,"Poison Storm!"

The three Legendary Warriors suddenly felt something rise in the air. They suddenly couldn't see anything surrounding them, and felt something clawing at their throats. Lowemon began coughing frantically, and fell to the ground.

"Ni..!" Lobomon began, before his shout was muffled by Lunemon's hand.

_'Dont' breathe. Didn't you hear the name of her attack? If you breathe, you'll be poisoned like Kouichi.'_ She sent her thoughts to his mind.

_'But what will happen to Kouichi now that he's poisoned?' _Lobomon asked.

Lunemon replied,_'I don't know. Listen: take Kouichi back to the rest of the village.'_

_'What about you?'_ Kouji asked Mai.

She told him,_'I'm going to fight Witchmon. Don't worry about me, worry about your brother. Call Lunamon in your mind, and ask her for help.'_

_'But...'_ he began.

_'Go now! Before you run out of breath and breathe in the poison!'_ Mai yelled in her mind.

Hesitantly, Lobomon went to his brother, and picked him up, carring him. He then quickly ran out of the poison-filled fog, and to the other side of the village.

Lunemon turned her attention back to the fight.She could no longer hold her breath, so she let it out, breathing in the poison. Then, she focused on the fight.

_'She's hiding herself in this fog full of poison. If I relax, I should be able to find her, and guess what she's about to do.'_ she thought, and closed her eyes.

"Aquari Pressure!" Witchmon yelled once the fog dispersed, and attacked.

Lunemon opened her eyes and ran as fast as she could, to the left. She dodged the large attack, just in time.

They both continued doing this for several hours, neither side taking advantage over the other. Lunemon kept attempting to knock Witchmon of her broom. Soon, it was dusk.

Witchmon couldn't stand it anymore. "You're a tough one allright, but this attack will knock you off your feet." She rose higher into the air. Lunemon wondered what she was going to do.

The digimon cried out,"Baru Luna Gale!" She mixed both of her attacks, Aquari Pressure, and Poison Storm, and shot them towards the moon that was now showing in the night sky.

Mai felt the air around her change. She felt a large wind, striking at her. Then, she looked up and saw something coming towards her.

_'Mai, dodge!'_ she heard a voice shout in her head, but couldn't move.

The attack did indeed knock her off her feet. Lunemon was thrown back several yards, knocked unconscious as well.

"That will teach you to mess with others." Witchmon smirked wickedly as she said this. She was about to attack, when she heard a voice.

It commanded,_'Don't. Leave the girl for now. You have done enough, Witchmon, not telling me with your thoughts that you have found humans.'_

Witchmon scowled, but replied in her mind,_'Yes My Lady.'_ She flew towards the lake, and muttered something. Then she quickly dove into the lake, and disappeared.


	14. A Thoughtful Conversation

**Chapter 14: A Thoughtful Conversation**

"Mai? Wake up Mai!" a voice exclaimed.

She saw a familiar face. "Kouichi...?"

Kouichi sighed with relief. "She's awake." he told the others.

Mai sat up on the bed she was laying on. Besides, Kouichi and Kouji, she noticed Lunamon, Crescesmon, and several Lekismon in the room.

"What...what happened?" she asked weakly.

She received no reply until Lunamon said,"We're not sure, since we weren't at the battle scene, but I was able to see what you saw. I saw some kind of strange attack, and then darkness. I guessed you must've been knocked out, since Witchmon was gone as well."

"Not good. Definitely not good." Mai said.

Crescesmon cleared her throat, receiving everyone's attention. "There is something else. When Lunamon felt you being unconscious, and we found you by the temples, we went to check out the lake and..."

"And what?" Mai asked.

"Um well, you weren't planning on reuniting with your friends anytime soon were you?" Crescesmon asked.

Mai's expression changed to puzzled. "Why do you ask?" She noticed a certain look on Kouji and Kouichi's faces.

"It appears Witchmon put a spell on the lake. Perhaps I should have told you earlier, but that lake was what hid the Hidden Moon Vilage. Occasionally, our digimon would go to the other side, and come back, but no other digimon would be able to enter the lake, unless one of us was with them. That is how the three of you were able to enter the village. We brought you Mistress Lunemon here, and when you told us about your friends, we found them, and brought them here as well." Crescesmon said.

"The thing is...whatever spell Witchmon cast on the lake, it prevents us from leaving the village." Lunamon finished.

"So that lake, its the only way out of this village, and into the rest of the Digital World?" Mai asked, and received nods.

Lunamon added,"We can fix it, but it will take some time."

Mai raised and eyebrow and asked,"How much time?"

"It depends on what the spell is, and how fast we can rid of it. It might take from a few hours to several days, weeks, months...or even years." Crescesmon muttered at the end.

"Years?!" Mai, Kouji and Kouichi exclaimed.

"Do not worry though. If you wish it, we will begin working on ridding of the spell that was cast on the lake." Crescesmon said.

"You also forget that time goes fast in the Digital World. Several months might end up being only some days." Lunamon told them.

Mai nodded but asked,"Still, this is my fault. You warned me to protect the lake, but I couldn't."

This arose several protests.

"No! It is not your fault, Mistress Lunemon! Never!" Crescesmon exclaimed.

Lunamon said,"The only one to blame is Witchmon. In the meantime, as the spell is being broken, you'll be here, doing whatever you want to do."

"Well, what do you guys think?" Mai asked Kouji and Kouichi.

Kouichi replied,"Well I did say that both of us would stay with you as long as it took, until you decided to go meet up with the others." He didn't notice the glare Kouji gave him as he said 'both of us'.

"So I guess we'll be here for awhile." Mai muttered.

"Or for a short while. We don't know how long it will be." Kouichi reminded her. Mai nodded.

Kouichi then said,"Since we're here for who knows how long, perhaps you can tell us the rest of your stories?"

"Oh right! I cough cough almost cough cough forgot!" Mai began coughing badly.

"Mai!" Kouichi exclaimed. Lunamon quickly went over to a dresser that was in the room, and grabbed a small tube full of a blue liquid.

"Somebody get some water!" Crescesmon shouted.

A Lekismon brought Mai some water. Lunamon took off the top of the tube she held in her hands, and poured some of the liquid into the cup full of water.

"Drink this, it will help get rid of the poison in your body." she said gently.

Mai took the cup and drank all of the water, and then sighed with relief.

"Do you feel better?" Kouichi asked, as he went over to where she was.

Nodding, Mai replied,"Yeah. Sorry about that."

"While you were fighting Witchmon, the digimon were busy trying to find a cure for the poison that I had breathed in. It didn't take them very long. Amazing isn't it?" Kouichi said, smiling.

"Mmmhmm." Mai gave a small smile.

"All of you should get some rest, it is nighttime after all. We will begin working on the lake." Crescesmon announced.

"We have a room you two can share." Lunamon told Kouji and Kouichi. They nodded, and followed her.

"Goodnight Mai." Kouichi said as he left the room.

"Goodnight." she said to both of them. Kouji followed his brother, saying nothing. The digimon left the room, leaving Mai alone.

She put the cup that Lekismon handed her on a small table next to her, and then layed down on her bed. As she was about to sleep, she heard a voice in her head.

_'All you allright, Mai?'_ it asked.

Suprised, she replied,_'Kouji?'_ He repeated the question and she replied,_'Yeah, I'm much better, thanks to the digimons' cure. Is Kouichi okay?'_

He answered her,_'He's fine, back to his cheery self.'_

Mai grinned as he sent the message to her. Then she asked,_'How about you? Are you ok?'_

She didn't receive a reply at first, but then heard him say,_'I'm fine.'_

_'Allright then.'_

For awhile, neither of them said anything, both with something on their mind.

Then, Kouji told her,_'I can't imagine you being hated.'_

_'Wha...?'_ Mai asked, confused at his sudden statement.

_'What you told us before, about being hated for an unknown reason. I can't imagine someone like you being hated for no reason.'_ he replied.

_'Well, it happened. It isn't something I would want to remember, those years of being teased at...as well as other things...'_ her voice in his mind trailed off.

_'Then those who teased you must have not taken the time to know you. The real you.'_ Kouji told her.

_'The real me?'_ Mai asked.

_'Well, if you haven't noticed Kouichi's behaviour...'_ he commented.

_' I have.' _

Kouji continued,_'Well, back at home, before you arrived, Kouichi...he would be depressed. I don't know the reason he was depressed, but he was. He would try and hide it from the rest of us, but being his twin brother, it didn't work on me. Then when Zoe introduced you to us, he was suddenly more joyful.'_

_'But what did I do to make him like that? All happy and stuff...' _she asked.

_'I don't know, but he's a lot more cheerful than before, and he's not the only one who was affected by your arrival.'_ Kouji told her.

_'Who else?'_

_'Well, um...I...er...before you arrived, the only girl I could talk to easily was Zoe, but there's not many things I can discuss with her since she like shopping and whatnot. You're...you're different, unless you are about to tell me you enjoy shopping too and the other girl stuff.'_ he began.

Mai replied,_'I would rather bury myself alive first.'_

_'Er...really?'_ Kouji said, trying not to laugh aloud, so he wouldn't wake Kouichi up.

_'Don't tell Zoe, but I detest doing that kinda of stuff. I don't really think about how I look, and stuff like that. There are too many other important things on my mind.'_ Mai told Kouji.

_'Allright...well then, my assuming was right. You're different from the other girls at our school. I was..kinda suprised at how easy it was easy talking to you.'_ he said.

_'I'm assuming by different, you mean not in that Kouji Minamoto fan club thing?'_ Mai asked.

_'Oh, you found out about that?'_ he said.

She replied,_'Unfortunately. It must be annoying, having girls follow you everywhere-stalkers is what I would call them-, giggling everytime you pass them when they aren't following you, and well, you get the idea.'_

_'Well...yeah.'_

_'Oh! Sorry for getting off-topic. Um, you were saying how easy it was talking to me?'_ she asked.

_'Oh, right. Well, I guess I was suprised about that. Of course, not as suprised as when I found out you knew about the existence of Digimon and their world.'_

_'Probably...'_

_'And when you um...beat me in that kendo challenge...'_ his voice trailed off.

Mai replied, _'Sorry about that. I'm guessing Takuya made a big deal out of it?'_

_'How did you know?'_ he asked.

_'Well, first of all, he's a gogglehead, and it seems he would do something like that.'_ she said.

_'Oh,right.'_

Again, there was an awkward silence.

Kouji then said,_'Um Mai?'_

_'Hmm?'_

_'There's something I've been wanting to say to you for awhile.'_ Kouji replied.

_'What is it?'_ Mai asked.

_'I well, I think that you're...I think that you are...'_ he began.

_'How long are you two lovebirds going to be talking? All of us have been listening to your conversation for quite awhile.'_ a voice that belonged to neither of them said.

Mai almost fell out of her bed. In the other room, the same was with Kouji.

_'Lunamon!'_ they both cried in unison, in their minds.

_'And the rest of the village.'_ Lunamon chuckled.

For a few seconds, neither Mai nor Kouji said anything. Then at the same time they though,_'We're not lovebirds.'_

_'Of course not, but you should get some sleep. It's already midnight.' Lunamon replied._

_'Goodnight then.'_ Mai suddnely announced.

_'Goodnight.'_ Kouji said as well.

_'Goodnight Mistress Lunemon and...'_ the village began.

_'Kouji Minamoto.'_ he replied.

_'And Kouji Minamoto.'_ they finished.

Both of them soon fell asleep, lost in their own dreams. As Mai dreamt, again,- for she remembered the other time Kouji wanted to say something to her-she wondered what he was going to say to her.

* * *

"Well, that was a refreshing sleep." Kouichi said the next morning, as they were eating breakfast.

Neither Mai or Kouji said anything, still remembering last night.

Lunamon then came in with some food. She told them,"Enjoy your meal." She smiled a little bit too much at Mai and Kouji. They simply glared at the rabbit-like digimon. Kouichi was oblivious to all of this, as he began eating his breakfast.

After they had finished breakfast, they headed to the library-much to Kouichi's delight and Kouji's annoyance at his brother's delight-and sat down at where they sat before when Mai told them her first story.

"So...you heard the first story." she said.

"Yup, and you said there were others." Kouichi said happily. Mai sideglanced and saw Kouji indicate to Kouichi. She nodded to both of them, taking notice of Kouichi's behaviour, then didn't think anymore about it.

"Seeing as we have more time, I'll be able to tell you the other stories more easily, and add in some other things. Well, I guess I'll start with my second adventure then, with Kari and the others." she said and waited for them.

"Go on." Kouichi told her. Kouji simply nodded.

"Allright." Mai said. "Then here I go."

Kouichi and Kouji relaxed on the sofas they were sitting on as Mai began her second story.

As Mai told her story, Kouji thought,_'I wonder, I wonder what her reaction would've have been if I had been able to tell her what I was going to say yesterday.'_ For some reason, he couldn't help but grin at the thought.

Then, Kouichi and Mai noticed his grin and asked him about it.

"Oh nothing." he replied, still grinning. "Nothing at all."

**END OF PART 1**


	15. A Strange Encounter

**Part 2: Kimiko Yamaguchi**

**Chapter 15: A Strange Encounter**

"And stay out!" a voice boomed. Four kids were thrown out of the building as the voice boomed.

Zoe quickly got up and yelled back,"You don't have to be so rude about it!" She was about to say more, but her voice was muffled by Takuya's hand.

"Shh..Zoe! Don't provoke him!" Takuya whispered.

She said something, but Takuya didn't understand. He took his hand off and then she repeated herself.

"Sorry, it's just we haven't eaten in awhile, and I tend to get cranky when I don't eat."

"Yeah, I can see that." Takuya muttered.

"Huh, what was that Takuya?" Zoe asked.

"Nothing."

Tommy interrupted their conversation by asking,"What do we do know?"

At the same time, everyone's stomach growled.

"Man, I'm sooo hungry! I bet Kouji and the others are eating something good like a burger with some fries! If Mai hadn't left, then all of us would be here starving!" Takuya said angrily.

"Stop that Takuya! It was Mai's choice to go, and their choice to go after her. Besides I don't blame her for leaving this group. At least Kouji thinks things through, and Kouichi livens things up." Zoe argued.

Takuya was too hungry to argue back.

"Guys, don't argue at a time like this. If what Zoe said is true,which probably is, then the others are probably ok. We shouldn't worry about them, and try to figure out what we should do." Tommy said all of the sudden.

"The little squirt is right." J.P. nodded, agreeing with him.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey Tommy, when did you ever learn to think like that?" Takuya asked.

_'Obviously not from you.'_ Zoe thought to herself.

The younger kid pondered for a bit and then replied,"I guess I got it from Kouji."

Takuya scowled."Kouji this, Kouji that. Why does everyone always talk about him as if he was so great?!" He kicked at a small rock, and it flew into the air...

_Smack!_ ...hitting someone's head.

Everybody was suddenly quiet.

Zoe then ran over to the person who had been hit. "I'm so sorry for what my friend did! Are you allright?" She turned to look at Takuya and glared at him, motioning for him to come and apologize.

Takuya and the other two boys ran over.

'Another human?' they thought when they saw the girl on the ground. They couldn't see her face, since her hair was in the way.

"S..sorry about that. I didn't mean for that rock to hit you." Takuya babbled on, until Zoe glared at him again to stop.

The raven-haired girl replied her head bent down,"Oh, it's ok. It happens to me all the time. I'm quite accident prone. Don't worry about it." She stood up and moved her hair out of her face.

"Hello, my name's Kimiko Yamaguchi." the girl said with a wide smile on her face.

All the others could do was stare with their eyes wide open.

* * *

_Several hours earlier..._

Kimiko woke up with a start. She was breathing heavily, gasping for breath.

_'That was a strange dream. That girl...she looked like me, but she wasn't me.Who was she?'_ she thought, and then happened to notice the time on her alarm clock.

_'Oh well. Better get ready for school.'_ she thought and went to take a shower.

After she was dressed, she grabbed her school bag, and went downstairs. Kimiko saw her mom working in her office and told her she was leaving.

"Allright. Have a good time at school." her mom, Nikkoo Yamaguchi said cheerfully.

Kimiko nodded and headed out the door. She breathed in the fresh air, and noticed the clear sky, with the bright sunshine. Then, she went back to thinking about the strange girl she had seen in her dream.

_'Her eyes were different from mine. They have a much more clearer view of the world, and a more serious tone.'_ Kimiko was lost in her thoughts as she walked to school.

She was raven-haired, with emerald eyes that had a twinkle to them. Her dark hair, rested on her shoulders neatly. Her clothing consisted of a light purple blouse, with a sparkling blue butterfly on it, and flared blue jeans. Today, she wore white sneakers with orange, and a yellow checkmark on them. Around her neck was a necklace with a golden sun on it. It had been a gift from her mom for her 4th birthday, and she had never taken it off ever since.

Kimiko's day went the same as usual. She was greeted by several people, and she greeted them back. Her classes went by normally, as did lunch. Before she knew it, school was over.

"Hey Kimi-chan, want to go to the mall with my mom and I?" one of her friends, Melissa asked. Melissa Swenson and Kimiko were both foreign exchange students from America, but the difference was that Kimiko was born in Japan, moved to America for a few years, and then moved back to Japan when she was 10. She had been very glad when Melissa came to Japan, and they continued being close friends.

"I'd love to, but I have to finish some homework I have. Then there's that test we're having, and you know my mom, she makes me study no matter how easy it might be." Kimiko replied.

Melissa said,"Oh, allright. See you tommorow then." Kimiko couldn't notice the upset tone in her voice.

Even though they had been close friends for a long time, Kimiko couldn't help but feel that their friendship was fading away. She couldn't understand why however.

_'Maybe it's because we're changing...although we still like similar things, our personalities are still changing. Also, Melissa-chan, she's been hanging out with the popular people again. She didn't tell me, I found out from someone else. That makes me think that there are other things she hasn't told me. But why? We've always told each other everything, why is this happening?'_ she thought, feeling upset.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when her cell phone rang. Kimiko took it out of her pocket and saw a message on it.

_Do You Wish To Join?_  
_Yes_ _No_

"What...what is this?" Kimiko wondered. When she read the message, an electric feeling ran up her spine.

_"Kimiko Yamaguchi."_ a voice came out of her phone.

"Wha...who are you, and how do you know my name?" Kimiko asked suprised.

The voice continued, apparently not hearing Kimiko's question, _"Kimiko Yamaguchi, your destiny awaits."_

"Destiny...?" Kimiko was now more confused than before.

_'Maybe if I press 'Yes', I'll find out more.'_ she thought and decided to do it.

Then, the voice said after she pressed yes_,"Head to Shibuya Station by 5:45. Then, take the elevator, and go to the underground train station. Your destiny awaits...Kimiko Yamaguchi..."_ the voice repeated the last part, and then faded.

Kimiko looked at the clock on her phone. _4:55PM_

_'I have plenty of time, but I might as well go now.'_ she thought, and began running towards Shibuya Station.

* * *

Kimiko followed the directions that she heard the voice from her phone say, and arrived at the underground train station. It was empty except for 3 trains: a large red one, a medium blue one, and a medium yellow one.

_"Now, which one will you choose?"_ said the same voice coming from her cellphone

"Which train? But..." Kimiko began, and then the same face that appeared in her dreams, flashed through her mind.

Instinctively, Kimiko went up to the medium blue train. She opened one of the doors to the train, and went inside. There was no one inside the train. Kimiko was about to get off, when she heard the train door slam shut behind her. She went to try and open the door, but it was locked.

"Wait! Let me get off!"she shouted, banging on the window, but no one replied.

Then, Kimiko heard a _whooshing_ sound, and knew the train was starting. Seeing there was nothing she could do, she sighed, and sat down on one of the seats. She pulled out her phone, and saw nothing strange on the screen.

_'Who was that talking on my phone? Why was I brought here?'_ she thought, and then yawned, feeling tired.

Kimiko decided to rest. As she slept, the same face appeared throughout her dream, but this time, there was a troubled look on her face.


	16. Kimiko Begins

**Chapter 16:Kimiko Begins**

The train came to a stop. It jolted, waking Kimiko up. She rubbed her eyes, sat up in her seat, and muttered rather sleepily,"What's going on?"

She then heard the _whooshing_ sound, coming from the train. All of its doors opened, bright sunlight coming in. Kimiko then felt something in her right pocket. She took out her cellphone, and watched suprised, as it transformed into a strange device that was an orangey color, with a golden color on the right hand corner. Kimiko stared in awe at the device in her hand, and then heard a familiar voice coming from it.

_"This is your D-tector. Welcome to the Digital World, Kimiko Yamaguchi. Your destiny awaits."_ the female voice said mysteriously.

"Your destiny awaits. Digital World, what is that? Who are you? Hello? Hello?!" Kimiko asked the voice, pushing buttons on her D-tector, but the voice had gone, leaving a dark screen.

She sighed and layed back against her seat, some of her dark hair falling on her face. Then she heard a voice not familiar to her.

"So...you getting off or what?" the voice seem to echo inside the train.

Kimiko almost fell off her train seat and said nervously,"Who's there?"

"If you get off me, you'll find out." the voice said rhetorically.

Hesitantly, Kimiko stepped out of the blue train, onto the station and looked around. Then it hit her. she walked towards to the front of the train and gasped.

The train noticed her and said,"Greetings there. Now if you don't mind, I'm leaving. Have other things to do..." then its doors closed, and steam was let off. The train began moving, and soon was out of Kimiko's sight.

"Ookay...talking phone, talking train, what's next?" she said, and then looked at her D-tector. It made a strange noise, and then a holographic map appeared in front of her.

She soon figured out one of the dots was her, and decided to go to the other dot on the map, though she had no idea why.

* * *

The Frontier gang, and Kimiko were sitting on a table at the same restaurant Takuya and the others had been recently been kicked out of. The manager gave all of them except Kimiko a scathing look, but didn't say anything as he brought them their food.

"Enjoy the meal, You're lucky this girl was here to pay for your food." he said threateningly.

Kimiko didn't seem to notice the tension in the air that surrounded them, or when it disappeared as the manager went to do other things.

Takuya and the others relaxed and then turned their attention to the girl sitting accross the table from them. All of their thoughts were similar.

Zoe thought,_'She looks so much like her...'_

_'Her eyes are much more friendly however...'_ Takuya and J.P. thought.

_'I wonder what she's doing here.'_ was what Tommy was thinking.

Kimiko sipped from her drink, and then sighed. She said nothing for awhile and then looked at the others.

"So...you guys were taken here too. Into this Digital World full of...strange creatures." It wasn't a question, rather a statement.

They nodded and Zoe told her,"We're looking for our friends. They went after, erm, another friend, and we haven't seen them since. Though you may not believe us, but we've actually been here before."

Kimiko put down her drink on the table and looked at Zoe with a slightly suprised expression.

"You..you've been here before?" she asked in awe.

Again, the four of them nodded.

"Er...how? Why?" Kimiko asked.

It was Zoe's turn to sigh. She twiddled her fingers and told Kimiko,"It's a long story. I'm sure the others don't mind if I tell you. Right?" she asked looking towards the others, and they nodded. Then she said,"First however, how did you end up here?"

Kimiko explained about the message on her phone, how she came to Shibuya Station, and so on.

"I found this village, this restaurant." she said.

Takuya then interrupted,"But..how did you get that guy to give you food? We didn't have any money, so he kicked us out!"

Kimiko hesitated and then replied slowly,"Ah well. Something strange happened. Maybe you guys will know what I mean since you've been here before. It's kinda of a long story, though probably not as long as yours."

"If you tell us your story, we'll tell you ours." Takuya told her. He ignored the expression on J.P.'s face though guessed,_'Great. First Zoe, now her. I wonder why J.P. wasn't into Mai though.'_

"Allright." Kimiko said cheerfully to them. She, like Takuya, noted the expression on J.P's face, but ignored it.

She took a deep breath, and let it out.

"Well, I followed the map on my cellphone, or err, D-tector, _and found this village..."_


	17. Exploration

**Chapter 17: Exploration**

Kimiko jumped in suprise several times as she noticed the creatures that were in the village. Creatures, not humans, though some had human body parts.

_'Where am I?'_ she wondered, though she remember that the voice coming from her cellphone,or D-tector, told her she had arrived in the Digital Worlds, whatever that was. Yes Digital World, but what exactly was that, and where exactly was that?

"Toto, looks like I'm not in Japan anymore." she said with a small laugh.

Suddenly, her stomach grumbled of its own accord. Kimiko frowned and wondered where she could get something to eat. As much as she was fascinated, suprised, curious, and a bit scared by the strange creatures walking around the village, she didn't think of much about them.

Soon, she found a place that seemed to be a restaurant. Kimiko went inside and saw some other of the strange creatures, sitting down, eating. Then as the waiter came to take her order, a small pang shot inside of her. She had no money.

"Um, excuse me. I know this might offend you, but I have no money to pay for my food. Is there any other way I can pay for it?" Kimiko asked.

The Digitamamon replied,"You'll have to work for it then. My manager isn't here, so you'll have to wait until he returns."

At that moment, as if on cue, Kimiko's stomach grumbled.

"I wonder how long I'll have to wait." she muttered to herself as the Digitamamon went to take everyone else's orders.

Finally, she could no longer stand the aroma coming from the kitchen, making her stomach growl even louder that a few of the strange creatures heard and chuckled, so she exited the restaurant. She walked around the village, looking at the different creatures, wondering what they were.

_'They don't seem dangerous, otherwise they would've attacked me by now. Maybe I can ask one of them something.'_ she thought and went over to where there was a group of pink and blue birdlike creatures.

"Um excuse me, if this seems rude, you can tell me, but I'm in the Digital World right?" Kimiko asked them.

The creatures giggled for a few seconds, and nodded.

Kimiko then said,"Ok, so what are all of you?" She indicated at them and the other creatures in the village.

One of the Biyomon replied,her voice bright and cheerful"We are all digimon. My friends and I are called Biyomon, and we were wondering the same about you when you approached us."

"Oh, well I'm a human. Digimon eh? Well it's a good thing I'm into fantasy and sci-fi, otherwise I would be freaked out by now." Kimiko told them.

She noticed that the Biyomon were still looking at her, so she asked them what was wrong.

The same Biyomon told her,"Nothing's wrong. If you don't mind telling us, um, how did you get here? We have heard about the existence of humans and the human world, but none of us in this village have ever seen or met one before. You are the first to come to this village."

Kimiko explained to the Biyomon about the strange message she received on her cellphone that told her to go to Shibuya station, and how she arrived to the Digital World by Trailmon, as well as the strange voice she heard coming from her phone. She then showed them her D-tector, and the Biyomon looked at it in awe.

"I'm guessing by the expression on your face, you don't know what this is." Kimiko sighed, and she received nods from the Biyomon.

"I'm sorry, we don't. However, we might know someone who can tell you about this." Biyomon said, indicating to the D-tector.

Kimiko's face lit up and she asked,"Who? Do they live here?"

"No, but we can tell you where. Every digimon here in this village, and I'm sure the rest of the Digital World knows them. I've heard that right now the three of them are together at one of their castles. They are Lady Ophanimon, Lord Seraphimon, and Lord Cherubimon, the three great Celestial Angels of the Digital World." Biyomon told her.

Another Biyomon added,"They would most likely be at Lord Seraphimon's castle. However, his castle, is quite far from here, so the journey will be long. You might have to gather food and supplies before you go. We can give you a map on how to get there, if you'd like."

The raven-haired girl nodded and said,"Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome. When you're ready to go, stop by here, and we will hand you the map for your journey. Until then, later!" the Biyomon said in unison.

Kimiko nodded and waved goodbye, until later. She then continued walking around the village, stopping at shops to look at several items, occasionally asking a digimon about them. Also, she would ask questions about the digimon and the Digital World in general, receiving many answers. Satisfied, Kimiko decided to go back to the restaurant to see if the manager had come back. When she went in, she saw the waiter digimon she had met earlier and went over to him.

"Um, excuse me sir, but is your manager back?" she asked him.

"You can call me Digitamamon, and no he hasn't arrived, which is strange. He should've been here by now." Digitamamon replied, sounding worried.

Kimiko said,"Oh, ok. Do you know where he went?"

"He went not too far outside the village, to the area where we gather vegetables and fruit that we grow. If you don't mind, could you go get him?" Digitamamon requested.

"I don't mind. I'll go find him." she replied, and then left the restaurant.

Soon, she had arrived at the end of where the village was. The area that lay before her was full of nothing but forest, a place she assumed, you could easily get lost in.

"I could get lost too." Kimiko muttered to herself and looked at the ground. She searched for something sharp, and then found a rock that could fit into her palm, that seemed sharp enough.

She then went to the first tree she saw, and marked an X on it, continuing to do so as she walked into the area, searching for the manager of the village's restaurant.

It wasn't too long before, she heard a beeping noise come from her pocket. Kimiko stopped, and took out her D-tector from her pocket. The same holographic map she had seen earlier, appeared in front of her. She found where she was on the map, and then saw two other dots on it. They were moving a bit, but not much.

"Maybe the manager is there!" Kimiko exclaimed, and decided to check it out. Following the map on her D-tector, she quickly ran to where the two dots were, past trees. She had forgotten to mark the trees as she did so however.

She then spotted something. As she walked closer to where it was, she noticed it was a digimon. It resembled a red vegetable, was red, and at the end of it's arms where the hands should be, were instead, spikes.

Kimiko looked again at her map, and noticed that the other dot she had seen was gone. She walked over to the digimon who seemed to be busy, and asked nervously,"Ex-excuse me, are you the manager of the restaurant that's in the village near here?"

The digimon was apparently suprised by her approach, and jumped up. It then muttered something under its breath and then turned its attention to Kimiko.

"I am. Who are you, human?" it asked.

"My name is Kimiko Yamaguchi. I arrived at the village, and found your restaurant. However, I didn't have any money to pay for the food, and so I asked your waiter if there was a way I could pay for the food..s-sir."

"I see. Well you can wash the dishes to pay for your meal. I'm RedVeggiemon." RedVeggiemon told her.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, well your waiter was wondering what was taking you so long to come back to the restaurant..." Kimiko's voice trailed off.

RedVeggiemon replied,"Well, usually when I go to collect the vegetables and fruit from our garden, I can easily find the garden because there are usually ribbons tied around the trees that show me where it is. However, today, I spent hours looking for them, and never did. I was finally able to find the garden,and began collecting the items."

Kimiko nodded and said,"Okay, but who else was with you?"

Confusion was shown in RedVeggiemon's expression. He asked,"What do you mean? I came here by myself."

It was Kimiko's turn to be confused. She told the digimon,"Well, I was able to find you with my D-tector here. It showed me a map with 3 dots, One of them was me, and then there were the other 2 dots. I followed the map and came here, so I guessed you were with someone else."

RedVeggiemon frowned and told her,"But I came here-" his voice was cut off, as he and Kimiko were knocked off their feet(or selves, seeing RedVeggiemon has no feet) by an explosion.

They landed none too gently against some trees, and groaned as they got off.

"What...what happened?" Kimiko asked, looking to see where the explosion came from.

Once the smoke from the explosion cleared, she and RedVeggiemon could make out a large shape. approaching.

"Who is that?" Kimiko asked nervously.

"That's Okuwamon." RedVeggiemon replied in an angry tone. The garden where he grew vegetables and fruit was destroyed.

Kimiko looked at the large, grey insectoid digimon with red markings and wondered why it hadn't attacked them yet.

Then she spotted something else. So did RedVeggiemon. He called out to the tall figure in a black robe that had jumped of Okuwamon,"Hey you!"

The figure turned to look at RedVeggiemon and Kimiko. Then it turned to Okuwamon and said something they couldn't hear. The dark figure suddenly disappeared leaving no trace. Okuwamon bent down, getting ready to...

"It's going to attack!" RedVeggiemon shouted.

At that moment, Okuwamon cried out in its strange-sounding voice,"Double Scissor Claw!" It flew at them, planning on ripping them to shreds with its large sharp claws.

"Run!" Kimiko cried.

Okuwamon's attack just barely missed, and hit several trees instead.

They continued running, trying to find the village,and trying to escape from Okuwamon's attack. Kimiko then spotted the X' she had made on the trees and shouted to RedVeggiemon,"This way!"

Soon, they could spot the village in sight, and sighed with relief as they came closer. They were about to enter it and alert the other digimon, when...

_BAM!_

Okuwamon landed in front of them. He turned to RedVeggiemon and shouted,"Beetle Horn Attack!"

Kimiko quickly pushed RedVeggiemon aside with herself, both landing hard on the ground. Okuwamon's attack missed again, and he crashed into some trees. He quickly recovered and then decided to attack Kimiko.

Just as he was about to attack, Kimiko's D-tector began blaring. She took it out, and an immensely bright light came out of it, at Okuwamon. The large digimon screeched as if it was in pain, and took to the skies. It flew away from the bright light, and soon disappeared from sight.

The light from Kimiko's D-tector disappeared, and it stopped beeping as well. She looked at the sky and then at her D-tector in confusion.

"What...what just happened?" she said.


	18. Setting Out

**Chapter 18: Setting Out**

"Do you think there was a spirit nearby?" Takuya asked the others.

Zoe replied,"I don't think so. Kimiko-chan would've found it already. Maybe...Ophanimon could sense she was in danger, and helped her."

Kimiko then said,"You know Ophanimon?"

The others nodded and told her they knew the three celestial angels. Then, they got into explaining their story. Zoe sent a glance to the two boys, which indicated to not to mention Mai's relation to Kimiko.

"Wow, that Mai girl sounds like a jerk, seeing, or well hearing as she left like that." Kimiko chuckled.

The other three gave each other glances, as if they were all thinking,_'If only you knew...'_

"We pretty much wandered around, not still sure if we should go to Seraphimon's castle, or go find them. They have been gone for quite a while, and they might have run into some danger." Zoe then said.

"'Them? Nah. I said before Z', Kouji is a strong guy, even though he's a jerk sometimes. Kouichi's tough too, and I don't think he would let the other two get hurt, even if they could defend themselves. And Mai, _pfft_, she's like Kouji, another strong fighter. After all, she did _beat him_, _**The**__ Kouji Minamoto_ in Kendo." Takuya said confidently.

"I agree with Takuya. We should probably go to Seraphimon's castle and meet them there, since we don't know where they are, and could get lost ourselves finding them." Tommy said.

"Right." they all said in unison.

Zoe asked them,"When should we leave?"

Kimiko pondered about it and then replied,"I think tommorow morning would be best. If you guys don't mind, can I join your group and travel with you guys to Seraphimon's castle?"

"Sure. Ophanimon did call you to come here. Maybe she wanted you to come to Seraphimon's castle for the same reason she called us back." Zoe replied with the others nodding in approval. In her mind she thought, _'I wonder what both of your reactions will be when you meet each other.'_

"Er, something wrong Zoe?" Kimiko asked her, seeing the expression on her face.

Zoe dropped it and said,"No, just thinking about what will happen when we arrive at Seraphimon's castle."

"Allright. Anyway, I asked some of the..er, digimon called Biyomon and they said they could give me a map to Seraphimon's castle. They also suggested to gather supplies. I think we should do that and then in the morning we can leave." Kimiko told all of them.

"Sounds good to me." the others replied.

"Ok then. I'll ask the manager of this restaurant if he can spare some supplies. Then we can find the Biyomon and ask them for the map. I guess everything's settled then." she finished saying.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Be careful on your trip everyone!" the Biyomon cried out, waving to the Frontier gang plus Kimiko.

"We will. Don'r worry about it." Takuya answered.

They all waved several times, and then turned around, leaving the digimon village behind.

As planned, they had gathered food and supplies. Thanks to Kimiko, RedVeggiemon gave them plenty of food to last them throughout their trip. He also convinced the manager of a supply store to give them some supplies. Then, the five of them went to where Kimiko had met the Biyomon, and they handed her the map. The Biyomon also let them rest in their home, and the next morning, said goodbye to them.

J.P. who was in charge of the map, unrolled it, once they were several yards away from the village, now into the forest. He found a tree stump and placed the map on there, putting some stones on the corners so it wouldn't fly away.

"Hmm...ok, this is where we just were." he told the others, pointing a red star on the map. It had the name of the village they had recently left, and there was a tannish line connecting it to other places.

"That's the path we're on." Takuya said. The others nodded.

"Judging by the scale on here, and measuring on the map the distance between the village and Seraphimon's castle, it'll take us about 3 days to arrive there." Kimiko remarked.

"Whoa, how did you figure that out so easily?" Takuya asked suprised, but he was slightly impressed.

"When I was in America, I was in Girl Scouts and we had to figure out stuff like this. It's not so hard, once you get used to doing it." she replied with a smile.

Zoe then interrupted,"So...do we have enough food to last us that long?"

Everyone checked their packs given to them by RedVeggiemon. They nodded and replied 'yes.'

Kimiko then looked up at the sky, and being careful not to look at the sun, she said to everyone,"We better get going before time passes by. After all, we have to rest in the night and move in the day, and we'll have to travel quickly to get there in time."

"Yosh! Let's move out!" Takuya announced, receiving some eye rolling. They went onto the path, and began moving.

* * *

Half a day passed, and they were still in the tangly depths of the forest. As they had traveled, Zoe and the others had asked Kimiko several questions about herself, which she didn't mind answering.

"So you came from America when you were little, lived in Japan for a bit, moved back, and then came back to Japan?" Takuya asked her.

Kimiko nodded and said,"I've gotten used to the different teaching systems in both countries. Although I miss the friends I made when I move, I can always talk to them on the computer. Also, it's not as difficult when my mom is with me."

The others raised an eyebrow when they heard the word 'mom'.

"Er, your mom?" Zoe asked rhetorically.

"Yea. She's the best. I mean sometimes she has to be a parent and remind me to study and such, but other times she's fun to be around with. It's like having a sister." she replied.

"Sister eh..." they muttered all thinking the exact same thing.

_'So if Kimiko lives with her mom, then, what about Mai?'_ Takuya wondered.

Zoe decided to find out. She asked a bit hesitantly,"If it bothers you, you don't have to answer, but..what about your dad?"

Kimiko stopped walking. She didn't answer. The others stopped with her and waited to see what would happen.

"My dad...the last time I saw him, I was 4. My mom told me when I was older, that he had to go somewhere. Something about his job. I didn't see him after that, and kept asking her when he was coming back. I saw something weird in her eyes, as if she didn't know if he was coming back or not. She told me that he would come soon hopefully, but he never did." Kimiko finally replied.

"Oh, okay." Zoe said.

Kimiko then told her and the others,"I'll tell you one thing, they aren't divorced. He really did have to go somewhere because of his job. What I know from what my mom told me, is that he works with computers,technology, stuff like that. It requires him to move around a lot, that's why I kept moving back and forth. Then, that last time I saw him, he told my mom to stay in Japan, to take care of me. My mom agreed, and then he left. After he did, my mom had to get a job, in order to earn money for us, and so she could pay the babysitter to take care of me. Once I didn't need one, she didn't have to work as hard, but she still had to work. I helped her by doing what I could to earn money, and we managed."

"It must have been hard." Tommy commented.

"Not really. I'm used to it now. Still, it would've been nice if I had someone there with me besides my mom. When I come from school on certain days, she's at work, and it's sometimes lonely at home. I would go to the mall with my friends if I could, but they're busy too. Heh, now that I think about it, it wouldn't be as bad if I had a brother or sister around. Though I prefer a sister, that way we could have plenty of things to talk about." Kimiko said.

"Yeah, that would be interesting..." Zoe muttered. The others now seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

_'It's kinda like Kouji and Kouichi. Except both of them have no idea about it. Kimiko was living with her parents, and then her mom, but Mai...who was Mai with when she was growing up?' _Zoe wondered.

"Hey, are you guys okay? You're kinda quiet." Kimiko asked them.

They were interrupted from their thoughts, and replied that they were ok.

"Just thinking about some things." they told her.

"Ok. Let's keep moving." she said and they nodded.

They had a chance to lose themselves in their thoughts when they continued walking, since Kimiko was now silent with them. They didn't know that she was wondering why they had asked her those questions, and was trying to figure it out.

_'Well, once we all meet up at Seraphimon's castle, maybe our questions will be answered.'_ Takuya thought.


	19. The Mansion

**Chapter 19:The Mansion**  
The next day, when the Frontier gang were continuing on their trip towards Seraphimon's castle, all of the sudden, their D-tectors made a strange noise. Everyone took them out and holographic maps appeared in front of them.

"What's this?" they asked in unison..

"Well, this must be us." Zoe indicated to the group of blue dots that were close together.

"Wonder what that is." Kimiko muttered, pointing to the red dot.

They pondered over it and then Takuya asked them,"Want to go check it out?"

All of the sudden, they heard the sound of thunder crashing, and jumped in suprise. The top of their heads felt something small and wet.

"Great, it's raining. Maybe we better find out what's where that red dot is, and might be able to find a place to stay at, waiting for the rain to clear." Zoe said. The others nodded, and they began running carefully, heading towards where the red dot was on their D-tector map.

* * *

"Whoa..." they all said softly. They had arrived at a digimon village.

However this village was different from the other village they had been to. The streets were silent, and the buildings looked old and run down.

"Where is everybody?" Takuya wondered out loud.

Zoe responded,"Seeing as the village looks like this, I don't think there is anybody living in here. It must be abandoned."

Kimiko looked up and said,"Well even if its abandoned, we better find a place to stay in as we wait for the rain to disappear. We won't be able to travel in this weather."

Her D-tector and the others' lit up and once again showed the map. They saw that they were the red dot was, which was the village. Then they saw another red dot.

"Wonder what's there..." Kimiko muttered.

"You want to go find out?" Takuya asked them and they nodded.

They continued running, and found themselves leaving the village. Then they saw the beginning of a black, metal fence. Following it, they arrived at their destination. Like the village, the place looked worn down. The grass reached to their waist, for Tommy, it was his neck. Takuya picked him up and carried him on his shoulders so he wouldn't be lost in the grass. All of them then spotted it.

"A mansion." they said alltogether.

The mansion was as old as the village, but it didn't look as run down as the village was. There were several shrubs and other plant type items covering the walls and windows. The place looked like it hadn't been visited in ages.

"That looks like a better place to stay in than the village." Takuya said eagerly and began heading towards the mansion. He opened the gate first before doing so, and then indicated for the others to follow. They hesitantly came, but then began running as the rain began pouring down harder.

As they went inside, finding the door unlocked, Kimiko thought,_'For some reason, this place gives me the creeps.'_

She then forgot about it and went inside. However, neither her nor the others noticed as something moved in the grass behind them. It watched them from outside the mansion and then left the area as quickly as it could.

* * *

They found a room upstairs and decided to sleep in there. Suprisingly, it wasn't as messy as they expected it to be. The beds were neatly made and the room looked very clean.

_'Strange, it looks like this place has been visited recently.'_ Kimiko pondered about it, but then forgot about her suspicions once more as sleep overcame her.

She sat in a bed that was next to the one Zoe was sleeping in, and soon fell into a deep sleep. This time her dream was slightly different from before. The girl that looked like her was no longer upset but happy. She also saw two other faces, but they were both blurry.

Then the girl did something that suprised Kimiko. She laughed. The laugh made Kimiko feel better for some reason and she sighed. After that, Kimiko slept a dreamless sleep.


	20. The Mansion Part 2

**Chapter 20: The Mansion Part 2**

Everyone woke up refreshed and looked out the window of the mansion. It was still raining, and very hard as well.

"Not good." Kimiko muttered.

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked her.

"This will slow us down. Instead of taking three days to get to Seraphimon's castle, it will take us longer, depending if it keeps raining." she replied.

"Aw man..." Takuya groaned.

"What should we do now?" Zoe asked no one in particular.

No one replied. They were all lost deep in their thoughts. Then, Tommy broke the silence by saying,"Why don't we explore as we wait for the rain to go away?"

"Hmm..." they all thought about it.

"I don't see why not." Kimiko told the other three, and in the end, they agreed.

Kimiko and Zoe partnered up and decided to explore upstairs. Takuya, Tommy, and J.P. were a group and decided to go downstairs.

"When we're done, lets meet at the entrance." Takuya announced. The others nodded, and then they began their exploration trip.

* * *

The door creaked with age as it was opened. One of the two girls searched for a light, and then turned it on once she found it. Everything in the room was immediately visible once the light turned on. Then, both girls entered. 

"This is very strange..." Kimiko muttered with her eyebrows met together. Zoe was meanwhile looking around the room in awe.

It was a medium sized bedroom, with everything neatly in place. Several paintings hanged from the wall, each displaying a different picture. A bed was near the corner, and it looked as if it was recently made. There was a dresser in the room as well, with a large mirror to look into.

Zoe suddenly remembered Kimiko's comment and asked her about it. Kimiko shook her head and told her it was nothing. They continued looking around in the bedroom.

* * *

"Aw man, there's no food!" J.P. exclaimed as he opened the refrigerator, revealing it to be empty. 

Takuya and Tommy opened cabinets, searching, but found everything empty.

"Why don't we check out the library then?" Tommy suggested, and the other two boys shrugged, but agreed.

The library was nearby, and it took both Takuya, Tommy, and J.P. to open the doors. When they finally got them open, they sighed in relaxation, and entered it.

It was a grand library, almost as big as the one the three boys had seen that Nefertimon was in charge of. This library however, had several paintings of random objects. What suprised and confused them was how clean the library was.

"The mansion looked old from the outside, but everthing inside looks clean. Strange..." Tommy said aloud. Takuya and J.P. pondered over it.

"Hey, what's this?" Takuya said suddenly, something had caught his eye. In the library, there was also a fireplace.

The gogglehead wearing boy went over to the fireplace, and began messing with one of the bricks on the wall. He asked for the other two to help him with it, so they did. Tommy, then accidentally made a false step, and leaned forward, his head pushing the brick halfway around.

"Ow..." he rubbed his head, groaning.

Suddenly, a firery red light appeared in the hole where the brick was. Takuya and J.P. pulled hard, and managed to remove the brick. The light then came out of the hole, shining at them. The three had to half cover their eyes with their arms, squinting to see where the light was coming from.

Takuya managed to walk forward. Without warning, his D-tector began beeping, causing him to sidestep and like Tommy, bash his head on the wall where the fireplace was. Takuya yelled in pain, and then quickly recovered.

They then heard a rumbling noise, and Takuya stepped back as a semicircle of the wall, including the fireplace turned around. The three boys stared in awe as it revealed to be a hidden passageway. Then they all looked at each other, as if trying to figure out whether to go in or not.

"Well?" Takuya asked the other two for their opinion.

J.P. shrugged and said,"Might as well."

"Tommy?"

Tommy replied,"We might find something interesting."

"Allright. Let's see what's in here." Takuya said and entered the secret passageway followed by the other two.

* * *

"Wow, that's a pretty painting." Kimiko commented at the painting, as she came over next to where Zoe was. 

Zoe nodded and pointed out,"The wind in the painting adds more movement to it."

"Yeah."

At that moment, something crashed through the window into the room. The girls shrieked in suprise and quickly turned around to see what it was. Kimiko picked up the large rock that fit into her hand, and examined it.

"What the heck..." she said softly and was about to go over to the broken window when Zoe's D-tector began acting up.

Suddenly, a dark shape appeared in the room. The two girls froze in fear. Whatever the thing was, it was completely covered in a black cloak with a hood. At first it didn't seem to notice the girls, until Kimiko accidentally let the rock in her hands go. Then, it quicky looked up at them, not moving.

Before the two girls could react, the figure appeared behind them. The last thing they saw, were blurry shapes entering the room from many directions. Then, darkness.


	21. Kidnapped

_vous-you

* * *

_

**Chapter 21: Kidnapped**

The passageway was dark and gloomy and the only sight of light was at the end. Takuya and the other two boys continued stumbling into each other due to the lack of light.

"Ow, watch it J.P!" Takuya exclaimed.

"Sorry." J.P. muttered.

Tommy remarked,"If only we had some light, then we wouldn't be running into each other."

As if someone heard his comment, the passageway unexpectedly lit up. The three boys could now see the small, decayed parts of plants stuck in the dusty, damp bricks. They looked ahead, and could see a brighter light up ahead.

The three nodded and continued walking in the passageway, heading towards the bright light.

* * *

Kimiko groaned in pain once she opened her eyes and attempted to sit up, having no success. 

"Zoe?" she asked aloud, and heard movement near her. Zoe came over to where Kimiko was and sighed in relief.

She said to Kimiko,"Thank goodness you're awake."

"Where are we?" asked Kimiko.

At first, Zoe didn't reply. Her attention seemed to be focused somewhere else. Then, she remembered that Kimiko had asked something.

She replied,"To be honest, I'm not sure myself. Well, I do know we're locked up in a cell, but other than that..." Her voice trailed off.

"What?" This time, Kimiko was able to get up, a suprised expression on her face as she did so. The expression lasted for only a second, quickly replaced by a grimace, as she groaned once more.

"Kimiko!" Zoe exclaimed and helped her sit up straight.

"What in the world...why does everything hurt?" Kimiko said more to herself than to her companion.

Zoe shrugged and said,"I don't know. I feel fine."

She then seemed to remember something else and began telling Kimiko what happened when she woke up.

"I found ourselves in this cell, and out there in the hallway past that door..." Zoe indicated to the metal door, outside their cell,"I heard voices discussing things. Unfortunately, I couldn't understand most of what they said. The only words I was able to grasp were 'humans' and 'ceremony'."

'I wonder what that could mean...' Kimiko wondered.

Suddenly, they heard a noise come from the hallway. The door then slowly opened and the two girls held their breath, waiting to see who would enter.

* * *

They ended up in a large chamber, torches filled the chamber with the bright light they had seen. At the center of the chamber, was something shaped like a fountain, except no water flowed from it. From above, a light shone on the fountain-shaped stone. Ancient runes were inscribed on the rough, grey stone as well. 

"Whoa..." the three boys said in amazement.

Then, a faint rumbling sound was heard. Takuya frowned and asked if the other two could hear it. Both of them nodded and frowned as well. They were silent for the next few minutes, listening to the rumbling, wondering what it was.  
The noise increased, and it seemed to get nearer.

"Guys..." Tommy began.

Now they heard a booming stomping noise, and it seemed to get louder by the second. The sound seemed to fall in a cascading effect, and now the three boys were worried about what it could be.

Suddenly, one of the walls in the chamber fell in, rocks tumbling and a cloud of dust expanding. The boys coughed and had to close their eyes so the dust wouldn't get into their eyes.  
They heard a chanting sound approach them, and surround them. When the cloud of dust cleared, they opened their eyes and were suprised by the sight in front of them.

* * *

"Who are you?!" Zoe demanded at the figure. Kimiko suddenly felt a cold chill run up her spine. Her breath seemed to stop, and she felt like gasping for breath. 

_'Oh no, its happening again.'_ she faintly thought and tried to refocus so Zoe and the digimon outside the cell wouldn't notice.

The digimon chuckled, the chuckle ringing throughout the room, bringing a small fear to the two girls, while also making their hearts leap.

"It is _I _who should be asking _vous_ the same question." the digimon replied in a velvety voice. It suprisingly resembled an teenage male human, but there were several differences that contradicted this idea.

For one thing, the digimon's face was paler than any human face and he had sanguineous lips that formed a thin grin. The grin revealed a set of pointed, sparkling teeth which made Kimiko and Zoe cringe in fear, but feel amazed. His eyes were black as the night sky, with thin eyebrows curved over them.

Kimiko noticed that not a hair was out of place on the digimon's head, and noted that if it were not for the fact that he was a digimon who appeared evil, she would've thought him a handsome young man who could take her heart away. Zoe seemed to have the same thoughts, but she wasn't as affected as much by the digimon's appearance as Kimiko was.

"It's considered polite to give one's name before asking for another's." Zoe said through her teeth. She gave the digimon a scowl full of hate, her green eyes in a piercing mode.

"Of but of course, how rude of me. I am Sanguemon, and I believe the mansion you and your friends were staying at, was mine." Sanguemon smiled in a way that made Kimiko's mind go numb.

_'What's happening to me?'_ she wondered and ignored the pain that resided within her.

"We were just passing by, when it began raining. It was only convenient that we found your mansion and decided to stay at it." Zoe replied scathingly. The minute Sanguemon entered through the door, she distrusted everything about him. Not only did his appearance -with his midnight black cape and shoes- resemble a vampire, but his name meant 'blood' itself.

"Ah, well...I'm afraid that you were trespassing, and that will not do. I found you two, and no doubt my servants will find your other friends. Now all of you must pay the consequences for entering my mansion without permission. I think you'll rather enjoy it, or maybe that's just my opinion. I'm inviting you to a banquet in the dining hall which is mandatory. First however, you must get ready by dressing up. I can't expect the two of you to eat at a fancy banquet dressed the way you are." Sanguemon slightly frowned when he looked at the way Zoe and Kimiko were dressed in modern clothing.

Kimiko then had the courage to speak up. "You said the banquet was mandatory. What happens if we don't attend?"

The minute she asked, she wished she didn't. A cold feeling began entering her body and she felt like she was about to faint.

The vampire-like digimon replied,"You'll be forced to come down, and if we cannot force you, ah.. a most unpleasant thing will happen." He then smiled and said cheerfully,"Ah, but I'm sure you will not think of that! You will enjoy the banquet, I promise you." He then opened the door to the cell, and beckoned for them to come out.

They did, but reluctantly. Sanguemon indicated for them to walk out the door, with him behind them. He gave them directions in which way to go, and they walked until they found themselves in the mansion's main hallway, where they were earlier with Takuya and the other two boys. Then, Zoe and Kimiko walked up the stairs, not saying a word with Sanguemon behind them, heading towards the same room where they had been captured.

Outside the door, Sanguemon slightly bent down to their height, and put each of his arms around their shoulders causing them to shiver inwardly.

He whispered in their ears, "I will send someone to notify you when the banquet will begin and expect for you to be ready by then. I can't wait until I see you two young ladies dressed properly."

Sanguemon then let go and walked down the stairs, leaving the two girls. They didn't say anything at first. Zoe turned the knob on the door, and both of them entered the room. Once the door was closed and they made sure no one was coming upstairs, they let out a big sigh and fell back on the soft bed in the room.

"Banquet? Dressed properly? What is that..that..._pervert_ thinking?!" Zoe hissed in exasperation.

"Pervert?" Kimiko inquired.

Zoe replied to her,"Didn't you see the way he acted towards us? And what he said he was doing? I mean come on, a banquet? Wanting us to dress properly? Also, he only mentioned Takuya and the others once and he never said anything about them coming to the 'banquet'. Obviously, this is something he planned where we're only involved. I don't like it one bit."

"Yeah..." Kimiko's voice trailed off. Zoe seemed to notice her peculiar behavior and asked what was wrong.

Kimiko shook her head. "It's nothing. I just feel a bit dizzy after that encounter."

Zoe frowned,"That's not nothing Kimiko. You need to rest, and I guess I'll get ready for the banquet."

"Are you sure?" Kimiko asked her.

She received a nod in reply and then said,"Oh, ok then." Kimiko layed back on the bed, and closed her eyes.

As Zoe was looking at the clothes in the large wardrobe which they had found upon entering the room, Kimiko was thinking. She scolded herself for not telling Zoe what else she was feeling after meeting Sanguemon.

_'The way he spoke, acted...it made my heart leap all of the sudden, while terrifying me at the same time. Ugh, why do I feel so dizzy? Zoe didn't seem to be affected by it, but I was. Also...Sanguemon, it could just be coincidential since he's a digimon, but why o why does he look exactly like him?'_ The stream of thoughts went through Kimiko's head. She put her right hand on her forehead, and found it to be unexpectedly cold.

_'My forehead feels so cold, but my head feels as if its on fire. What in the world is going on with me?' _


	22. The Banquet

**Hey guys! sorry for not updating in awhile. School can be very evil. D: I have exams this week. X-X Fun...but the good news is that after exams..Christmas Break! ;D

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**Chapter 22: The Banquet**

"Crud." Takuya said at the sight in front of him and the other two.

Ten ghostly figures surrounded them in silence. Because they had no feet, they hovered in the air. They had pale faces, and black eyes, and mostly resembled tattered bedsheets. The three boys held their breath, seeing what the digimon would do.

Finally, Tommy couldn't wait in patience and whispered to the older two boys,"What digimon are they?"

At that moment, the digimon began chanting loud and eerie-like. The noise echoed within the walls of the chamber, bouncing back and forth. Takuya, J.P., and Tommy began moving closer to the fountain.

"Wh-wh-what are they doing?" J.P. asked nervously.

"I wish I knew!" Takuya exclaimed. Tommy began wimpering in fear.

Suddenly, the chanting ceased. One of the ghostly figures moved towards them. Takuya and the other two inched back, their foreheads dripping with sweat, until they found themselves against a wall.

Takuya spoke up."What do you want?!"

The digimon froze. He appeared to be the leader since the others looked at him and waited for his command. It approached Takuya and scanned him from top to bottom. Then, it spoke.

"Hmm...our master will be most pleased when we bring him humans, bake. Tell me human, what is your name?" the ghost grinned wickedly as he waited for Takuya to reply.

"Takuya Kanbara, and who's your master?" Takuya demanded. Tommy and J.P. wondered what would happen.

The leader replied,"That is not your concern. Now, be good humans and let us take you to our master, bake."

Takuya glowered at the digimon and then raised an eyebrow. "Why do you keep saying 'bake' everytime you talk?"

"Oh of course. I forgot to introduce myself. We are Bakemon, bake." Bakemon's grin widened.

The three boys frowned for a few seconds and then suddenly, they burst out laughing. The leader Bakemon was puzzled and asked why they were laughing. Takuya ignored him and turned to the other two, answering the question indirectly.

"Oh man, are we lucky! I thought we were in serious trouble, but they're only Bakemon!" he continued laughing, tears of laughter coming out of his eyes.

When the digimon heard what he said, his puzzled look was replaced by an enraged look. He told the other Bakemon in their own language something that Takuya and the other two couldn't understand. The three stopped laughing and felt the temperature in the chamber drop unexpectedly. They backed up against the wall as they watched what was happening in front of them. The Bakemon began huddling together, and finally the leader joined them. Before the boys' eyes, they transformed into an even larger digimon. This digimon wore a witch's hat that covered its eyes, and its size was tremendous.

At that moment, several beeping sounds were heard. Takuya, J.P, and Tommy reached into their pockets and pulled out their D-tectors. A holographic image appeared and they saw the digimon on their screen, with the name above it, and other information.

_Soulmon_

_**Attribute**__: Virus_

_**Type**__: Ghost Digimon_

_**Attacks**_: _Necro Magic, Energy Drain, Soul Cry, Finishing Trance_

"Now am I something to laugh at?" Soulmon's voice echoed throughout the chamber, causing things to move.

"Uh oh." the trio said in unison.

* * *

Kimiko opened her eyes and looked at the mirror. She examined every detail about her, finding flaws in her appearance. She looked at her loose dark hair, some of it braided with Zoe's help. Her emerald eyes sparkled as real emeralds would, but there was a hint of fear in them. Kimiko's nose was small but delicate looking like a doll's, and her lips were thin at the moment. She and Zoe had found some earrings in the room to go with their dresses, and the ones Kimiko was wearing had purple gems dangling.

Now she gazed at the dress she wore. It was a simple dress-made out of silk-a violet color with a flower design in blue thread. It went all the way to her ankles in a flowing matter to where her high heels were. She called out to Zoe asking if she was ready.

"Yep." Zoe replied and came out of the restroom. Her dress was longer than Kimiko's by a few millimeters, and was a light pink color with a purple design on it. She also wore high heels which were a purple color as well. Zoe's hair wasn't braided at all, but it had two hair clips in the form of a butterfly shape. She had taken off her hat since it wouldn't fit with what she was wearing, and had put it on top of her folded clothes. Kimiko had done the same, and both of their clothes rested on the bed.

"Now what?" Kimiko inquired.

Zoe went and sat down on the bed next to the clothes. "We wait."

The ravenhaired girl joined her and sat next to her. Both of them were silent, lost in their own thoughts. Then Kimiko spoke up, wondering if Zoe had felt the same way she did when they met Sanguemon.

"Um, Zoe." she said timidly. Zoe broke away from her thoughts and looked at Kimiko, waiting for her to go on.

"Well, I don't know if he did to you, but Sanguemon looks like someone I knew from the 'real world'." Kimiko had gotten used to calling the world she, Zoe, and the others came from the 'real world'.

Zoe's eyes widened. "Really? Who?"

Kimiko looked down at her feet and tried replying, but no sound came out. She cleared her throat and went on. "There used to be this guy at my school who was in some of my classes. He was a very popular guy. I don't know how...but I grew to liking him, a lot. It so happened that he asked me out to this dance we were having at our school."

"Wow, that must have been lucky for you." Zoe commented, a small smile on her face. It dropped when she saw Kimiko didn't look happy.

"It was at first, but then..." her voice trailed off.

"Then what?" Zoe frowned, noticing Kimiko didn't look as if she was feeling well.

Kimiko gulped, and tears came down her face. She continued,"Well, we were at the dance when he told me to wait at one of the tables. He said he was going to go get some punch. I waited happily, and talked to some of my friends that came to the dance. Hours went by, and he didn't come back. I tried calling him, but he didn't answer. The dance then was beginning to end, and the last song was playing. Suddenly, we heard screaming. Someone came in and started yelling out things we couldn't understand. When that person calmed down he told us that someone had killed themselves in one of the bathroom stalls...and that someone was the person who had asked me out for the dance."

Zoe's eyes widened again, but this time in horror. "What..?"

"They told me later that Hiroki was having problems with his family, school, and other things. He left a note saying that now he could _rest in peace_. I found out that he had been waiting to ask me to the dance and that he liked me. The counselors gave me a note that Hiroki left me. It said, 'I wish I could have told you earlier..._Hiroki_.' " Kimiko was now silent.

"Oh my god... I'm so sorry Kimi-chan." Zoe told her. Kimiko shook her head and told her not to.

"I can't help but blame myself for what happened, even though I barely had anything to do with it. I just wish he had talked to someone about his problems and not had to kill himself as a last resort. Then he would still be alive." The tears had stopped coming and she now felt better for telling Zoe what was troubling her.

"You must have really liked him to still be sad over what happened." Zoe said softly. Kimiko nodded. She was about to say more when they were interrupted by a knocking at the door.

Both of the girls opened it and saw no one there. However, they heard a voice.

"You may come down now. Sanguemon is waiting for you." the voice said. Kimiko couldn't help but shiver. The last word felt as if it was directed to her specifically.

* * *

"Necro Magic!" Soulmon shrieked, its voice bouncing off the chamber walls.

"Ahh!" the three boys yelled, trying to evade Soulmon's attack. They heard crashing sounds behind them as the chamber walls were collapsing.

"We have to get out of here." Takuya told the others.

"How? Soulmon destroyed where we came in. I hope you have a plan 'B', Takky." J.P. told him.

Soulmon continued attacking them with heavy blasts of his Necro Magic, barely missing them. Takuya quickly looked around and then pointed out to the fountain. J.P. and Tommy followed him, hiding behind the fountain.

"You can run but you can't hide!" Soulmon screamed. The three boys had to cover their ears since his voice sounded like a thousand spirits being tortured and dying.

"If only we had our spirits, then we'd be able to defeat Soulmon!" Tommy yelled over Soulmon's continous shrieking.

"Just imagine, if we're in this much trouble, what about Zoe and Kimiko?" Takuya told them as Soulmon approached the fountain they were hiding behind.

* * *

Sanguemon smiled flawlessly as Zoe and Kimiko arrived at the table. He got up from his seat and walked over towards them. Then he bowed and took them to their seats, pulling a chair for them to sit at. They sat down in silence and waited for him to take his seat. Kimiko tried to distract herself by looking at the tablecloth's intricate designs and colors. Zoe didn't bother with this, and simply glared at Sanguemon whose smile never seemed to fade.

"Both of you-" Sanguemon began.

"Quiet." Zoe scowled.

The digimon slightly frowned and told her,"It's rude to interrupt when someone is speaking."

"It's also rude to look at someone too long." Zoe's green eyes burned with hatred. She could feel her temper rising and she wanted nothing more but to slap Sanguemon across the face.

"Well this is a strange sight. One of you seems to be in fowl mood while the other one won't even look up and speak." Kimiko shivered suddenly and let go of the edge of the tablecloth. She muttered a reply and tried to look up.

"Don't apologize to him!" Zoe yelled.

Sanguemon sighed and began tapping his fingers on the table. This was not going according to plan. However, just in cue one of his servants arrived and told him dinner was ready. Sanguemon's smile appeared and he said eagerly,"You may bring it."

More of his servants arrived with plates. Kimiko and Zoe couldn't have a clear sight of them because they kept flashing back and forth, as if they were invisible ghosts. Soon their heads hurt from trying to have a good look at them so they turned to the table and waited for their dinner. The girls couldn't help but feel hungry as they saw the food that was being brought.

Then, Sanguemon stood up from his chair and announced with his sanguine smile,"Dinner is served."


	23. The Flame Awakens

Yush! Holidays are here! -_runs around crazily- _Lulz, today I had a Geometry exam. I made an 88 which is okay but eh. However, my semester grade for Geometry is a 90 and that is still an 'A' so I'm good. I had a Yearbook party after that and it was fun. Now I'm here at home sneezing spastically and coughing. X-X I _hate_ colds. Anyway, enough about me, I present to you Chapter 23! BTW: I might add more since I'm not still sure, but right now there are 6 more chapters I have to write (hopefully I can finish them today) and then Part 2 of this story will be over. Aww...but don't worry Part 3 will be really interesting!

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**Chapter 23: The Flame Awakens**

Takuya felt his heart beat faster and faster as Soulmon came to where he and the other two boys were. If for anything, he wished he had his spirit. Without it he felt as helpless as a rabbit stuck in a trap. His mind suddenly remembered the times when his friends were in trouble and he had been able to help them by spirit evolving. He remembered the power that was inside of him, burning as strong as a flame, the power of the legendary warrior Agunimon. With it, he felt he could defeat any enemy who caused trouble.

"Takuya." Takuya's thoughts broke apart at the sound of a voice. It was Tommy.

The gogglehead looked at the younger boy and saw that he was afraid at what might happen to them if they didn't escape from Soulmon. At that moment Takuya's mind flashed back to the reason why he wanted his spirit. He wanted to protect his friends. To him, Tommy was like a little brother, who reminded him of his younger brother Shinya. Takuya wanted no harm to come to anyone who was his companion. It didn't matter if the enemy was one hundred times stronger than he was, he would and continue fighting to the end.

At that moment, he stood up and came out of hiding from behind the fountain. J.P. hissed at him to come back but it was too late. Takuya had made up his mind and Soulmon had spotted him. A ghostly smile appeared on his face as he saw the boy wasn't running away from him.

"There's no way I'm letting you hurt my friends." Takuya said fiercely.

Soulmon was about to make a retort when he noticed something was different this time about the boy. He saw something deep within the boy's eyes, as if it was struggling to break free. But what?

"Really? Is that so?" Soulmon grinned wickedly. His grin dropped as he looked into the boy's eyes again. There it was again. A bright glow as it pounded, attempting to escape. A few seconds passed in silence where Soulmon did nothing.

When he was about to speak, the fire within broke loose. Soulmon was blinded by a bright light causing him to screech in pain. Takuya gasped as he saw that the light was coming from his very own D-tector. Also, it seemed to be pointing at something. He followed the beam and found out it was pointing towards the fountain shaped stone. The runes on it lit up immediately as soon as the light touched it. J.P. and Tommy stepped back from the fountain and all three of them watched in amazement at what happened next.

* * *

They gave in to the temptation and ate, being watched carefully by Sanguemon's eyes. There seemed to be food of everykind, more than enough to feed a crowd of 100. Zoe, still being careful of Sanguemon, was enjoying the spaghetti in front of her. It had been awhile since she had eaten Italian like food. In Japan they had noodles but they didn't make spaghetti in the way she preferred it. Meanwhile Kimiko was very politely eating a stake with peas and mashed potatoes on the side.

Both of the girls noticed Sanguemon touched none of his food, but continued watching them with his pitch black eyes. Kimiko detected a sparkle in them and shuddered inwardly wondering what he was planning.

Finally, the two girls could not more even if they wanted to. They pushed their plates forward and waited for what would happen next. Sanguemon asked them what they thought of dinner.

"It was suprisingly good." Zoe admitted, though one could tell it pained her to say it. Kimiko said she agreed with Zoe.

Sanguemon lit up his sparkling grin, and said,"I'm glad you enjoyed it." He said some other stuff, but Kimiko and Zoe didn't hear it clearly.

Then, Kimiko began feeling drowsy. She tried staying awake so she wouldn't appear rude to Sanguemon but it was very difficult. Sanguemon didn't seem to notice as he continued talking and talking. Her sight began being blurry and drowsiness approached her. Zoe felt the same, and then it hit her. She said something in Italian that Kimiko placed as an insult. She wondered why Zoe sounded mad.

_'Maybe she's tired too, like I am...' _Kimiko's mind drifted. The two of them fell unconscious, entering a dark void in there minds, unable to control what was happening.

* * *

Something came out of the fountain with golden rays of light coming from it. The chamber unexpectedly became warmer as well as brighter. Takuya squinted, trying to see what the object was. Once he figured out what it was, he was in shock.

_'No way, can it really be...?' _he wondered and decided to find out.

"Spirit of Flame, I claim thee!" he cried out, slightly embarrased at his words.

The spirit rose higher and shot at a fast speed towards Takuya. He watched as it entered his D-tector and the symbol for 'flame' appeared on the screen. He then felt a large fire burn deep within his heart. It was the same feeling he had felt before when he had his spirit. The feeling had come back as well as the power he needed to fight Soulmon. Takuya grinned. Now it was game time.

Once Takuya's spirit was in his D-tector, the bright light disappeared and Soulmon could see once more. He was slightly dazed by what had happen, but could still fight. He now noticed the fire within the boy was burning deeper than ever. Reasoning told him to run away at the young boy's power, but Instinct wouldn't listen. Soulmon charged at the boy with the flame...

"Execute! Spirit...EVOLUTIOOOON!" Takuya shouted to the heavens, and this time the bright light shot out from his D-tector like a large pyro tower, surrounding him in flame. A band of digicode formed around his hand and he struck it like a match on his D-tector. Sparkles appeared, and the digicode extended forming armor. The armor compressed, and fit him perfectly.

The pyro tower disappared revealing a tall figure with green eyes. His yellow hair fell behind him like a lion's mane in a spiky style. The warrior's face was covered by a mask with three large horns on it. Protruding from his shoulder armor were also horns. His entire armor was a red and a white color with a golden outline. On his wrists were white metal wristbands with three holes in them. There were also holes where his knees were and above his feet, as well as in the armor. His feet had two claws protruding, with armor on them. Hence he was named Agunimon, Warrior of Flame.

Agunimon stepped forward and without a second's hesitation cried out an attack,"Pyro Tornado!" He spun around at a rapid pace, forming a fiery tornado, and struck Soulmon with a roundhouse kick. The damage did more to Soulmon than it should have, but mostly because he was a weak digimon. He stood no chance against the Warrior of Flame.

Soulmon's digicode appeared around him, and began unwrapping. Agunimon chanted a familiar phrase to him and scanned the data, storing it in his D-tector. Again, the bright light dimmed, and peacefullness settled within the chamber. J.P. and Tommy walked towards Agunimon, looking at him in awe.

"Nice man." J.P. commented. He and Tommy watched as the Legendary Warrior turned back into his human form.

Takuya smiled. "No problem." As he said this, thoughts formed in his head about what they should do next.

Tommy seemed to read his mind and stated,"We should go find Zoe and Kimiko."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Takuya looked around and spotted a hole in the chamber wall that Soulmon had created.

"You think that's a way out?" he asked the two boys.

His D-tector then beeped, and a holographic map appeared on his screen. It showed the three of them and then it showed a cluster of dots in a different location. Two of them were the same color as their dots were. Takuya frowned.

"Looks like they're in the same mess we were in, maybe worse." he said.

"Then lets go help them!" Tommy shouted.

"Right." the other two said in unison.

As they found their way out of the chamber through the large hole, Takuya thought,_'Don't worry, we're on our way.'

* * *

_

First there was darkness in the void. Then, a light reached into the void trying to awaken her. She didn't want to go, for she felt comfortable in the darkness. Even though her mind told her it was dangerous to stay, she ignored it. The light burned brighter, never letting go of her. The darkness fought back and held onto her as well. It was a hard struggle and she knew she had to choose. Suddenly a voice called out to her.

_'You don't belong in the darkness. The light is your home. Fight it and head to your rightful place.'_ the voice sounded chilling at first, but she knew it was right. Kimiko strugged and fought against the tendrils of darkness while reaching out towards the light. It was like a never ending battle, but in the end the light won.

Kimiko woke up and found herself in a sticky situation.


	24. Preparation

It's been an hour since my last update, lulz. Anywayz, enjoy! This is a short chapter meaning the next chapters will be longer!

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**Chapter 24: Preparation**

Both Zoe and Kimiko were lying flat against something wooden, tied to it with rope. The rope scratched at them causing discomfort, and creating red marks on them. Zoe was trying to break free, but it was to no avail. She layed back and sighed.

"Good, it is better that you not struggle, otherwise you will only cause yourself more pain than you should get." the familiar velvety voice reached their ears.

"You poisoned us." Zoe stated angrily. Kimiko was puzzled for a second at what she meant, and then she figured it out. The food they had eaten. Something in it had caused them to fall unconscious. Sanguemon had tricked them of course.

"Do you find yourselves dead? No? Well, then I didn't poison you. I merely put something in your food so you would sleep peacefully." Sanguemon said in an innocent tone.

"Really, then why did we have such a rude awakening and find ourselves tied to whatever we're tied on?!" Zoe shouted.

"You're simply being prepared for the ceremony." Sanguemon now had a bored expression on his face.

"Ceremony? Let me guess, you're going to suck our blood and let us be done with." Zoe gritted through her teeth. Kimiko shuddered, not bothering to hide it.

Sanguemon noticed and his dark eyes met hers for a moment. In that second, a feeling of familiarity washed over her giving her pleasure as well as fear. He was a digimon, but what else was Sanguemon that mystified her?

"What do you take me for, a vampire? I can't believe you would think those primitive, crude thoughts Zoe-chan." Sanguemon said with a sugary smile.

"Oh I don't know, your name is Sanguemon. Doesn't the word 'sangue' mean blood?" Zoe's eyes were burning with hatred.

Sanguemon seemed to pause. Then he said,"Did you get to choose your name?"

"Uh, what?" Zoe was confused at the sudden question.

"When you were born, did your parents let you choose the name Zoe? I'm not saying its a bad name, but did you get to choose it?" Sanguemon asked.

"Uh, well no. I was too little to even know what a name was." the blonde girl pointed this out as if it was common sense.

"Wouldn't you think that's the same with digimon? Hardly any digimon choose their name when they are created. I'm no different. Sanguemon does have a certain edge to it but just because you are named something, it doesn't mean someone should jump to conclusions about your personality." Sanguemon stated.

Zoe raised an eyebrow. "Your point?"

"I'm not going to suck your blood and kill you." Sanguemon answered.

Kimiko sighed with relief in her mind. However, her pleasure barely lasted 5 seconds.

"I'm going to perform a ceremony made especially for you. If you pass you will survive...but if you fail...hmmm, I wonder what death is like?" Sanguemon's glittering smile appeared. However, it was different this time. It seemed his true personality was leaking out, little by litte, but increasing at a quick pace. In place of two of his teeth, were vampiric fangs that seemed sharper than knives.

She wasn't sure whether it was his appearance, his words, or something else, but something caused Kimiko to scream aloud in fear. A vivid memory entered her head. It was the memory of Hiroki's dead body as she watched the emergency people taking it away. The thing he was on suddenly hit a rough bump and part of the sheet that layed over him came off, revealing his face. His eyes were wide open, as well as his mouth. There was other stuff on his face also. Either way, Kimiko screamed attracting several people who came towards her. Even in the years to come if she managed to survive Sanguemon's ceremony, the image would stay in her mind, haunting her for the rest of her life.

* * *

"Excellent. Objective #1 is in progress." a cold voice spoke deep within the shadows. 

A figure approached it and took a deep bow. "As always your highness creates perfect plans for the enemy's downfall."

"Of course I do. Now what is it you want?" the cold voice demanded.

The figure hesitated and then asked," ...-sama, why do wish to rid of these humans? They have done nothing yet."

"_Yet. _However, if the prophecy is correct, and it has been for several years long before I returned, those two will rid of me forever. Especially her. Who does she think she is, prancing around claiming the moon's power? The power belongs to me and only me. However, I have a plan, a perfect plan for her. She's developing a close bond with one of the others. If I break that bond, it will ruin her forever. With the other special power I have at my side, it is clear who shall win. She may have defeated her previous enemies but they were buffoons. When you have a battle between male and female, the female stands at top." the voice was about to say more when a trill sound was heard.

"They are almost breaking out of the barrier your highness. What should we do?" the figure spoke again.

"Let them. That's exactly what I had in mind. I'll let them meet up with each other because I'm sure the other two girls will pass the test. Men are so easy to control with their simple minds. Once they have met up with those blasted angels..._her_... they'll be heading on the same journey. That's when we will strike, or rather, you. Destroy one of our key targets and make them follow you to you-know-where. Then the real plan will be put into action. _Do you understand?_"

"Yes your Highness." the figure bowed down lower.

"Good, now leave me. I will call you when the time has come." the voice told the figure. The figure bowed once more to the voice and then walked out leaving the voice to itself.

* * *

The grand warrioress woke up startingly and gasped for breath. She placed her hand on her forehead and found it warm. Then she heard the sound of bedsheets moving. 

"You okay?" she was asked.

The raven-haired girl nodded."Just a fever. I'll go ask for some medicine."

"Mind if I tag along?" the voice said smoothly.

The girl shook her head and said,"There's something I need to tell you anyway."

"Really?" the voice sounded interested.

"You ever had a dream that came true? I don't mean as in a goal but as in an actual dream?"

"Hmm...I don't know. Why?"

Mai got up from her bed and faced Kouji. "This will sound weird; you'll probably laugh at me but I won't be able to stop thinking about it if I don't tell someone."

Kouji raised an eyebrow. "And you want to tell me?"

Mai had a puzzled expression. "Why not? You seem like a good listener."

Something leaped within Kouji unexpectedly. He ignored it. "Either that or you don't want to bother waking Kouichi up to tell him instead."

A small smile appeared on her face. "He seems tired whereas you never seem tired. Plus if he had woken up and not you I would have said the same thing to him. Any more questions?"

"Guess not. By the way, did you get it? Just in case they're snooping?" the raven-haired boy inquired.

_'What do you think?'_ Mai opened the door and stepped out.

_'Ha ha, very funny.' _He followed her at a normal pace though something inside him tried to make him rush after her.


	25. Ceremony:The Sun Rises

Long chapter, xd. Took me several hours to do because I was distracted. :P

**Chapter 25: Ceremony: The Sun Rises**

Sanguemon snapped his fingers and Kimiko was silenced. He spoke in a strange language and several of his servants ,which were Bakemon, appeared around them. Now they knew why the kept appearing and disappearing when they were at the banquet. Their master stepped back and watched as the Bakemon untied the confused girls. They disappeared, leaving the two girls to get up from their spot.

The digimon looked at them and then snapped his fingers. The area around them disappeared and they found themselves in a dark void. Kimiko's mind jolted and she remembered something from when she was unconscious. The voice had said the darkness didn't suit her and that she should head towards the light.

"I have the power to take us to alternate realities. Right now we're in the middle of nowhere, literally. There is no escape from here, yet there is." Sanguemon told them.

"That makes perfect sense." replied a sarcastic Zoe. Sanguemon then turned to look at her.

"You're annoying, so I'll start with you first. Dark Oblivion!" he cried out and dark tendrils surrounded Zoe. They tighted around her, crushing her breath so she couldn't scream in pain. All she could let out was a gasp.

"No, Zoe!" Kimiko tried going to Zoe when suddenly she felt Sanguemon behind her. Her eyes widened in astonishment.

_'How did he get behind me when he was over there?' _

"Ah ah ah." he shook his head at her and they watched as Zoe was engulfed in the darkness. Kimiko cried out her name but a hand was placed over her mouth.

"Screaming will do you no good." Sanguemon said in his sugary tone. Kimiko stopped struggling.

"What do you want?" she said in a defeated tone.

Sanguemon frowned. "You still haven't greeted me since I found you two. Don't tell me that you've forgotten who I am?"

Kimiko's mind froze. "What...?"

She found herself free and turned around taking a few steps back. Kimiko watched as the digimon started transforming, getting shorter and its clothes changing. She knew what the result was.

"Hi-hiro-ki." Kimiko choked, tears falling from her face.

"Kimi-chan." the dark haired boy smiled.

"I don't understand...I saw...your body..." Kimiko found it difficult to speak.

Hiroki sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that. You probably think I'm an idiot for doing something like that. However, after being reborn in the Digital World I've learned that what I did was idiotic. Not only did I hurt my family and friends, but I hurt you. I know you probably don't want to, but...could you forgive me for what I did?" His sweet voice reached her ears, and Kimiko managed to stop crying.

"How? Um, how were you able to be reborn into this world?" she asked.

Hiroki paused for a few seconds. Then he replied,"I'm not sure. It's all a blur. I guess it happens to everyone, they never really die, are just reborn somewhere else."

Kimiko nodded."I suppose." She was silent for a few minutes trying to think about how she would tell Hiroki she forgave him.

Then, out of nowhere, the familiar voice spoke up. _'Don't, it's a trap!'_

_'Wha? A trap?' _she asked the voice.

_'Don't believe a word he says. The real Hiroki you knew could be somewhere else but he's not the one standing in front of you. Sanguemon has the power of transforming himself into anything or anyone in his alternate reality.'_

_'So what do I do?'_

The voice replied,_'Defeat him.'_

_'No, you're lying!' _Kimiko shouted in her mind.

_'Open your mind!' _the voice shouted angrily.

"What? Open my mind?" Kimiko said to herself. She didn't notice she had said it aloud.

Hiroki chuckled. "What's that?"

Kimiko noticed her mistake and quickly replied,"Nothing." She was about to say more when a thought jolted through her mind.

She blurted out,"Zoe! We have to help her!"

"Zoe?" Hiroki looked puzzled.

"Yes! A friend of mine! She's in trouble!" Kimiko said worriedly.

"I'm sure she's fine. Are you okay Kimi-chan?" Hiroki's voice was alluring. Kimiko felt her thoughts drift away from Zoe.

_'No!'_ a loud voice shouted in her head. Kimiko jumped slightly.

"I'm fine, but you're not." she then said gravely.

"What?" Hiroki had the puzzled look on his face.

Kimiko sighed. "Answer me this, do you regret doing what you did? Do you wish you hadn't caused everyone so much grief by killing yourself?"

"Of course I regret what I did. I feel so stupid for my actions. If only I could go back and prevent myself from shooting that gun." Hiroki said sadly.

"I see." Kimiko said simply.

It happened before he saw it. Hiroki felt something hit his face, leaving a mark. Kimiko glared at him.

"You're not Hiroki." she spat out angrily.

"What are you talking about Kimi-chan? What's gotten into you?" Hiroki tried approaching her but she moved back.

"I guess you didn't bother to study my memories a little bit more. Hiroki _hanged_ himself. He didn't shoot himself with a gun. Change back into your regular form, Sanguemon." Kimiko said in a cold voice.

'Hiroki' sighed and gave back a fiercing glare. "Stupid girl." He was Sanguemon again and before Kimiko could react, he appeared right behind her, holding onto her in a deathly embrace, and then was choking her.

Kimiko struggled, trying to kick Sanguemon but only ended up hurting herself. Suddenly, the surroundings around them began changing and she found herself in a dark chamber that smelled like rotten flesh. There was something She crinkled her nose at the stench, still struggling against Sanguemon.

"Maybe you will meet your boyfriend again after what I do to you." Sanguemon had lost all of his handsomeness, looking more like a vampire digimon than human. He snarled at her and slammed her against one of the walls. A _snap_ was heard.

Sanguemon then made a noise and the dark tendrils appeared around him. He snapped his fingers again and this time they were back in the real Digital World, behind his mansion near a large tree. It was nightime but there were no stars and it was a new moon. The dark tendrils went towards the tree and formed to what seemed to be...

"A hangman's noose." Kimiko and Sanguemon said at the same time.

Some of the dark tendrils went to the bottom of the tree and formed a small staircase for Kimiko to step on. Sanguemon indicated for her to walk to the tree. She didn't budge.

"Now!" he shouted impatient. Kimiko was startled and slowly approached the tree, her mind going through several thoughts at once like where her friends were, if Zoe was ok, and what the voice in her head was.

_'Mom.'_ was another thought that went through her head. What would her mom think when Kimiko wasn't at home when she arrived?

She stepped onto the wooden stair thing and placed her head inside the noose and felt it tighten around her.

"Any last words?" Sanguemon stated a familiar phrase.

Kimiko took a deep breath and said,"I wish he had told me before, then I could have helped him." She felt the stair thing slowly move out from under her...

"What good would have that done?" Sanguemon smiled smugly.

"A lot. If there's anything that annoys me the most is when people don't talk about their problems. They have the opportunity to speak out and let someone help them, but they remain quiet. It happened to me after what Hiroki did. I couldn't talk about what I felt with anyone, not even my own mom. It was like I was trapping something poisonous inside of me and it slowly decayed within me. I couldn't stand it at all. Then this opportunity came up. I was sent to this world and then ended up at this mansion. I met some people who helped me with being sent to this world that's so different but similar to ours. I made new friends. Then after Zoe and I met you, it was as whatever locked the feelings inside was unlocked. It was unlocked so simply and I told Zoe what happened while relieving my thoughts. It seems so simple but its one of the hardest things to do: opening up to others." Kimiko said.

Sanguemon didn't have a reply to her words at first. Then he said,"Nice advice, but it won't do you any good anymore." He held his hand up, getting ready to snap his fingers. Kimiko looked up at the sky.

"All we need is some light into our lives. Too much of it can be as bad as too much darkness, but when it is balanced with the darkness, you have harmony." she quoted a line from one of her mom's speeches she had heard some time ago.

"Enough." Sanguemon said.

Time seemed to pass slowly for her as she waited for her time to end. She then had a curious thought.

_'Who are you?' _she wondered in her mind.

The reply was unexpected. _'I am you and you are me. If you call out to me then I can help you.'_

_'Call out to you?'_

_'Yes, with your heart. If you call me with your heart I will come.'_

Kimiko closed her eyes trying to decode the voice's message. She decided focusing on one thought, picturing it. For some reason the thought was of when she was in her 7th grade art class back in the United States. Their assignment was drawing something that calmed them or gave them an enjoyable feeling inside. Kimiko had drawn the sun rising.

_"I know most people like to draw the sun setting, but I wondered if anyone had drawn it rising. Probably not since it can blind your eyes. So I sorta imagined what it would look like" Kimiko told her art teacher._

_"It looks beautiful Kimiko. Now, why does it calm you or give you an enjoyable feeling?" the art teacher asked._

_Kimiko pondered over it. "I guess because to me it symbolizes the light in our hearts. My mom told me everyone has both darkness and light in their hearts, but sometimes there's more darkness than light, and they can't control it. When I drew the sun rising I imagined the light increasing in our hearts, balancing with the darkness, and bringing happiness into our lives."_

_The teacher nodded in approval. "Very good, A plus." she told Kimiko_

The image of the sun rising stood crystal clear in her head. _'More light...'_

"3, 2, 1, and..." Sanguemon counted down.

_"Zero." _The sun had risen.

A burst of light appeared and Sanguemon covered his eyes shrieking in pain. When the light dimmed, Sanguemon looked at the hangman's noose. It was gone, as was Kimiko.

"Over here." he heard a voice. Sanguemon turned around to see Kimiko a yard behind him.

"How...impossible!" Sanguemon seethed with anger.

"Really? Then how do you explain me standing here?" Kimiko said with a smug smile. She then held something up in the air. It was her D-tector. The sunlight hit it, illuminating its bright colors. Sanguemon saw a symbol on the screen. It was the symbol for sun.

_"It is time."_ a voice came from the D-tector.

"Execute! Spirit Evolution! Solemon!" Kimiko felt herself transform into a digimon. She felt a large amount of power inside of her. It felt warm to her.

"Who are you?" Sanguemon asked, trying to shade his eyes from the bright sunlight. It _burned_ painfully.

"I am Solemon, Legendary Warrior of the Sun." Her golden hair rippled and sparkled as a small wind blew through where they were.

A pair of clips shaped like the sun were in her hair. Half of her face was covered by a golden mask with orange on the edges. She wore a bright kimono with the colors of the sun. Tied around it at the back, was a more brightly colored _obi, _or sash. Solemon wore wooden shoes that resembled something between clogs and flip-flops known as _geta_. The kimono's sleeves covered her arms and hands and went all the way to her feet, covering the _geta_. She stood in a calm position, indicating to Sanguemon that she didn't consider him a big threat.

A thought went through Sanguemon's mind as he looked at the Legendary Warrior. _'Whatever happens, don't let her find her spirit!'_ the voice echoed. He had failed his task. He couldn't go to his highness. The only choice he had was to fight Solemon and get rid of her for good.

But the sun's light weakened him. He would have to end it all in one attack. Sanguemon carefully gathered all of the energy he had, focusing it on Solemon. He glared at her and she caught the glance.

"You just ran out of luck." Solemon pulled back the kimono sleeves, pressed the palms of her hands together and closed her eyes. Sanguemon paused for a second wondering what she was doing, and then continued with his attack.

Meanwhile Solemon was focusing her energy, but not all of it on her attack. She began to emit a bright stunning glow, which brightened by the second. Sanguemon winced at the light but continued gathering energy. However, like Solemon had said, his luck had run out.

"Solar Flare!" A large sphere of energy had formed between her palms and she started pulling her hands apart as the size of the sphere increased. She pointed it at Sanguemon who had not gathered enough energy yet and never would, and released her attack.

The result was a large explosion that could be heard miles away. Solemon spotted Sanguemon's data and raised her D-tector.

"Digicode Scan." she said and watched as the large amount of data entered her D-tector. Once it was all inside she let out a sigh of relief.

Solemon then turned around looking where several trees were. "You can come out now." She heard a scuffling noise and saw as Takuya, J.P, and and Tommy came out from their hiding spot. All three of them had astonished expressions on their faces.

"What?" Solemon asked innocently.

* * *

The three boys had found themselves deep within the woods, lost. Takuya argued with J.P. on which way to go when finally their D-tectors picked up a signal and the holographic map appeared. This time there were only two dots and only one of them was the same color as theirs. The three followed the map and headed towards the location where Kimiko and Sanguemon were. 

When they arrived they saw Sanguemon talking to Kimiko who had a noose tied around her neck. Tommy gasped out in horror, but was cut off by Takuya who told him to be silent or they would be found. Takuya was trying to form a plan quickly in his head on what to do. However, before the plan came to mind, he and the other two boys watched in amazement as Kimiko spirit evolved into a beautiful digimon and grand Legendary Warrior.

"Of the Sun?" the three boys whispered to themselves. Then they watched as Solemon took down Sanguemon with just one attack.

"She's powerful." Takuya commented. The other two nodded in agreement. They were then startled when Solemon called out to them to come out of hiding. The three boys nervously approached her. Takuya and J.P. were amazed by the Legendary Warrior's appearance, reminded of Kazemon. Then something jolted through their minds.

"Where's Zoe?" Tommy asked the question they had on their minds.

Solemon frowned and said, "I don't know, but I think I know how we can find out."

* * *

Still in her digimon form, Solemon approached the Bakemon who inched back towards the wall in fear of her. She asked them if they knew where their friend was. Unable to refuse to a digimon who was much more stronger than them, they showed her the way. Solemon and the three boys found Zoe asleep on the bed in the room she and Kimiko had dressed in as if nothing had happened. Solemon went up to Zoe and gently woke her up. 

"Mm...eh?" Zoe yawned and then froze as she saw the figure in front of her.

"Zoe, it's me, Kimiko." Solemon smiled brightly.

"Kimi-chan? No way!" Zoe exclaimed and asked what was going on. It only took a few minutes for Kimiko (now back in her human form) to explain what had happened.

"Funny, I don't remember that happening to me." Zoe commented when Kimiko explained what Sanguemon had done to her.

"Well it doesn't matter now. You're safe and that's what counts." Kimiko grinned.

Takuya turned to the other two boys. "Are you guys confused as I am?" They nodded. "Hmm, must be a girl thing." Takuya slumped and his face turned red when Zoe and Kimiko began laughing.

At that moment, everyone heard the familiar noise of their D-tectors going of. Takuya grumbled something about it being worse than his cellphone ringing. He soon forgot what he said when all of them heard a familiar voice come out from their D-tectors.

_"Legendary Warriors..."_

"Ophanimon!" everyone but Kimiko cried out.

_"You are not far from your destination. All of you should reach Seraphimon's castle within a day's time."_ Ophanimon's crystal clear voice said.

"Ophanimon, what about the others?" Zoe asked her.

_"Kouji, Kouichi, and Mai are on their way. They've run into similar troubles that you have run into. Once everyone arrives we shall discuss them. Hurry, for it is important that you hear what we have to say." _she replied.

"Right." they all said in unison, even Kimiko who was still confused about what was going on. Then Ophanimon said something to her.

_"Congratulations on finding the Spirit of the Sun. For many years, digimon have searched for it and could not find it anywhere. There was a phrase the warrior herself said before she disappeared, 'My soul shall rest within the core of the most important power you have ever heard of' Therefore many digimon believed it rested in the sun's core."_

"It did, but not the sun's core. This may sound weird, but I think it rested within the center of my heart. All I had to do was picture the power coming out and balancing with the darkness in my heart and ..I guess that's how I got it." Kimiko said. She noticed everyone listened to what she was saying.

_"I see, very good. Now I have something else to tell you." _Ophanimon said.

"What is it?"

_"When you arrive at Seraphimon's castle, there will be an unexpected surprise. The others have not told you about it for reasons of their own I suppose, but you will find out soon enough what they were hiding."_ Kimiko looked at the others in puzzlement. They didn't meet her eyes and looked around the room.

_"It will be nice meeting all of you again children."_ the Celestial Angel said and then she was gone. An awkward silence was held in the air until Kimiko broke it.

"I guess we should be on our way then." she stated.

The others nodded and they walked downstairs. They decided to leave the Bakemon alone since they had been serving Sanguemon not of their own will, and didn't do anything to them once their master was destroyed. The legendary warriors took one last glance at the mansion before they entered the woods once more.

"Hey I just noticed something." Tommy suddenly spoke up.

"What is it?" Zoe asked him.

Tommy looked up at the sky. "It stopped raining awhile back." All of them looked up and sure enough there were no dark clouds.

They sky was a pretty blue color with white puffy clouds moving past them. Meanwhile the sun rested in the sky, shining brightly, giving off the light that helped everyone in the distance.

* * *

Next Chapter: **Reunion **:3 


	26. Reunion

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas:3 I know I sure did: got a guitar and some other cool stuff.

* * *

**Chapter 26: Reunion**

"Gah, my feet hurt. All this walking isn't doing any good to them." Mai complained with a frown on her face. She winced every time she took a step on the rugged path that led out of the forest.

"Don't tell me you're tired already?" the boy on her right chuckled. He seemed amused at Mai's expression as he walked along beside her.

"Yes, I am. Can I help it?" Mai said.

"Enough Kouji. She's tired and so are you, admit it." another boy on Mai's left chastised Kouji. He looked exactly like him except for a clothing difference and his hair was shorter.

A small smile appeared on Mai's lips. The twins noticed and raised and eyebrow at the same time, asking an indirect question. Mai shook her head and said 'nothing'. Then she sighed and looked up at the clear sky.

"Hmm..." she murmured.

"What is it?" Kouichi asked. His brother however seemed to know what she was thinking.

"You'll meet them someday again." Kouji said. Kouichi then realized what he meant and said a soft 'oh'.

Mai shook her head."It's not that, but yeah...maybe I will."

Kouji was talking about the villagers in the Hidden Moon village. At first when Crescesmon told them it would take awhile before she and the other villagers could remove Witchmon's spell from the lake so they could leave the village, the trio couldn't believe it. However, somehow time did seem to go by and before they knew it, they were on their way to Seraphimon's castle. Mai had said goodbye and thanked everyone for helping them. Then after gathering items for their trip, the three of them departed the village, heading towards Seraphimon's castle.n

"You still okay after what happened?" Kouichi asked her. Mai nodded.

He was referring to the way they had left the village. The villagers told them they had to jump into the lake and swim to the surface. However, Mai was hesitant about doing so. When asked why, she wouldn't reply. Then she told them she was ready. Mai held on to each of one of the twins' hands and on the count of three they jumped into the lake. As they were trying to swim to the surface, Mai had panicked and started sinking. Kouji noticed and he swam farther down grabbing her. Then he helped her rise to the surface.

Dripping wet, Mai then confirmed their question. "Allright, so I can't swim and I'm afraid of the water. I guess I should have mentioned that earlier."

Kouji and Kouichi shook their heads and sighed. After resting for a bit from the incident, they began walking once more.

"So if you're not thinking about that, then what's on your mind?" Kouji inquired bored. A day had passed since they had left the Hidden Moon Village, and Seraphimon's castle still wasn't in sight. He wondered whether Takuya and the others were already there.

"Well...never mind, you'll laugh." Mai shook her head. She received pleads from the two boys and sighed. "Allright, allright."

She paused for a few minutes. The twins waited patiently for her response. Then...

"Kouji knows about it." she simply said. Kouji stopped walking and nodded, now knowing what she meant. Kouichi looked at Mai, and then at Kouji. He was the only one who had no idea what was going on.

Mai explained to him, "I had this strange dream about the others. They were in trouble and couldn't spirit evolve. Then...there was this bright light, as bright as the sun's rays, and then they were no longer in danger. That's all I can remember from my dream. Everything else is all blurry."

Kouichi began slowly,"So you think that something happened to the others?"

The raven-haired girl shrugged. "Possibly."

"Only one way to find out." Kouji stated. At that moment, all three of their D-tectors went off.

Immediately, they grabbed them and waited to see what would happen. They heard Ophanimon's smooth, shamanlike voice speak.

_"Legendary Warriors?"_ she asked.

"Yes, Ophanimon?" the three replied. They heard a relieved sigh come from their D-tectors. Ophanimon then asked them if they were okay. Mai replied that they fine.

Ophanimon seemed to take a pause before continuing. _"I've been trying to contact you but received no reply. I thought something might have happened...but I'm glad to know the three of you are okay."_

Kouichi hesitated and then asked,"Are the others okay?" He received a glance from Mai.

_"I don't know. I haven't contacted them yet, but I will after I deliver my message to you."_ she replied.

"Message?" the three of them said in unison.

_"I only need to say a few things: 1) Please hurry and come to Seraphimon's castle for you are needed now more than ever 2)A suprise awaits for when you arrive."_ Ophanimon told them the message.

"Okay, I understand why we should hurry to Seraphimon's castle, but what's the surprise?" Mai asked.

_"It wouldn't be a surprise if you knew, would it?"_ Ophanimon said. Mai raised an eyebrow and looked at the other two boys. They were puzzled as well.

Kouji then said for the three of them,"Well, we're on our way."

_"I shall talk to you soon."_ the Celestial angel told them and then the connection was gone.

The three continued walking, this time silent, all of them with the same thought in mind. _'What was the surprise?'

* * *

_

"There it is!" the voice of a young boy shouted. Takuya and the others looked at where Tommy was pointing.

A large, sparkling castle rose in the distance. It seemed to be made of a crystal that shone with all the colors of the spectrum. The kids felt a sense of familiarity as they approached the castle. All of them of course, except for Kimiko. However, she couldn't help but admire the castle's beauty. She also couldn't believe that not too long ago she was worried about finishing her homework and studying. Now she felt that what she was getting herself into was much greater than any of that.

The group arrived at the castle's entrance. Kimiko looked at the others and wondered what they would do. Takuya started off. He took out his D-tector and pointed it at the crystal made doors. The others did the same. Then, Kimiko did the same as well. Several beams of light shot out and entered what appeared to be a keyhole. The light beams disappeared, and the massive doors opened. Suddenly, they saw a figure approach them. They couldn't identify who it was because of the bright light, until it came out of the castle. Everyone but Kimiko gasped in surprise.

"Sorcerymon!" they cried out in astonishment.

"Great warriors of legend..." Sorcerymon bowed down before them. He was covered by a pure white cloak with symbols inside, covering the bottom half of his face. On his head rested a white sorcerer's hat that tilted slightly forward. Sorcerymon also wore brown leather shoes, gloves with rings around his fingers, and carried a staff with the top as the form of a snowflake.

"How..." Takuya began but Sorcerymon raised a hand that meant silence.

Sorcerymon explained. "The answer is simple: I was reborn after being turned into a digiegg."

"Oh, that's right. All digimon that die are reborn that way." Zoe told the others. They nodded in agreement.

"The three Celestial Angels are waiting for your arrival. Please, come." He walked inside with everyone following him. Sorcerymon suddently stopped and turned to them.

He told them,"Your friends are here as well." Kimiko noticed he glanced at her last before turning around.

"They are? Where?" Takuya asked eagerly. Sorcerymon pointed at a door.

"They are in that room. You may go there and wait while I go tell Seraphimon and the other two angels that everyone has arrived." Sorcerymon left before they could reply.

Takuya shrugged and muttered a response. He turned towards the others. "Ready to meet up with them?"

They nodded and followed him. Takuya slowly turned the knob and then pushed the door in to open it. He went inside and the others walked behind him.

"About time." they heard a familiar voice greet them.

* * *

Mai, Kouji, and Kouichi were welcomed by Sorcerymon upon their arrival at Seraphimon's castle, much to the twins' surprise. Sorcerymon explained to them that he had been reborn from his digiegg. Then he led them into a room to wait for the others to arrive. As they waited Mai began feeling nervous, but she couldn't figure out why. Kouichi and Kouji were about to ask her about it, when they heard the doorknob twisting.

"That must be them." Kouichi said. The other two nodded. They watched as the door pushed in and Takuya step inside, followed by the others.

"About time." Kouji told them. A small smile appeared on Mai and Kouichi's face at hearing the cynical tone.

The smiles dropped when they saw the last person step in.

* * *

Kouichi made a startling noise, while Kouji's widened in surprise. Takuya and the others behind him -except for the last person who stepped in- watched the scene unfold before them. Everyone noticed Mai change her expression. It was blank, revealing nothing of what she felt. Even her eyes seemed to dim as she stood up and took a few steps forward.

Unlike Mai, Kimiko didn't bother to hide her expression. Everything clicked all at once. The feeling inside of her that told her something was missing, Ophanimon's vague message about a surprise...it all made sense. She walked forward and looked at the girl who looked like her.

Finally, Mai broke the silence. "Who are you?"

Before Kimiko could respond, they heard the door open. Sorcerymon walked in and told them the Celestial Angels were ready to see them. Sorcerymon walked out of the room, leading them to where they were supposed to go. Mai and Kimiko realized this wasn't the time to ask questions. They would have to wait until later to ask. Takuya exited the room first, followed by Kouji, Izumi, J.P, and Tommy. Kimiko saw that Mai didn't move so she went after Tommy. After a few seconds of hesitation, Mai walked after her, shutting the door behind her.


	27. Explanation

__

Happy new year everyone!! BTW: sorry for the italisized chapter. For some reason FF's editor thing keeps doing that.

* * *

**Chapter 27: Explanation**

"Welcome." the three grand Celestial Angels greeted the group as they entered a large room with surrounding crystal. Sorcerymon bowed while everyone else looked up at the angels.

In the center stood Seraphimon, covered with silver and blue armor. His face was hidden by an armor helmet with a star on the front and two metal wings coming out from it. Five pairs of golden wings protruded from his back majestically.

To his left stood the angel who had guided the group to Seraphimon's castle. Like Seraphimon, she was protected by armor but it was the color of teal. Only half of her face was covered but her helmet carried the same star on the front. She carried a large javelin in her right hand and a large shield in her left. Ophanimon had eight golden wings and two white ones that rested behind her. She also carried the same air of importance that Seraphimon had.

On Seraphimon's right was the digimon Takuya and Kouji had fought bitterly against and the one who had corrupted Kouichi, turning him evil. Excluding Mai and Kimiko, everyone gave him a warily glance while noticing that he looked different from the Cherubimon they knew. He was a pure white color with a golden collar around his neck, followed by an even larger white color. Two golden stripes ran down his face and body. Cherubimon wore two golden rings around his massive ears that at some times resembled wings. His large hands rested beside him, his attention on Seraphimon who spoke first.

"I take it you are wondering why you were brought here." The kids nodded in response. Seraphimon raised a hand and made a strange motion. He then indicated for them to turn around and face one of the walls of the room.

At first they didn't see anything but the crystal that formed the wall. Then they saw all the colors of the spectrum swirl together and spread out, forming an image right before their eyes. Kouji, Kouichi, and Mai immediately recognized the image. It was the moon's surface where a battle was taking place. Two figures rose: one of them was a stone digimon, Meteormon. The other one was a digimon that only the three who were at that battle recognized. Everyone watched and heard the battle unfold as Lunemon quickly appeared in front of Meteormon and destroyed him. They saw as she scanned his digicode and then the image froze. Takuya was about to complain when he realized he wasn't at home watching a movie but rather somewhere else.

"The dark matter." Mai stated. She indicated to it and the image unfroze. Everyone looked at it and saw it head towards the Digital World. Then the image on the wall disappeared and the group was looking at the crystal wall. They turned around to look at the angels.

"Who was that fighting that stone digimon?" Takuya asked.

Kouji glanced at Mai and saw she didn't reply. He said aloud,"It was Mai. She found her spirit and transformed into Lunemon, the Legendary Warrior of the Moon."

Takuya, Zoe, J.P, and Tommy responded with surprise and awe. Mai blushed slightly but she said nothing. Kimiko merely looked at her in wonder, thoughts forming in her mind.

Ophanimon interrupted,"She is not the only one who found her spirit." She made a circle in the air with her javelin. Everyone quickly turned to look at the wall and watched it transform, forming more images.

They showed a vampire-like digimon and a lady digimon in a bright colored kimino, something forming between the palms of her hands. The attack was sent forward, destroying the other digimon and resulting in a large explosion. When the smoke cleared, only the lady digimon in the kimono appeared, and digicode. She scanned it and then said something to the bushes behind her. Takuya, J.P, and Tommy appeared and went to congratulate the digimon. Once again the image disappeared.

"And that's Kimiko. She turned into Solemon, the Legendary Warrior of the Sun." Takuya said aloud.

'Sun...and moon..' Mai thought as Kouji and Kouichi looked at Kimiko in surprise.

Zoe then interrupted,"Why are you showing us this?"

Ophanimon replied,"It's better than having to explain to each other what happened on your way here. Also...both battles have an important significance in what we're about to tell you."

"Someone planned for those battles to occur and for the two of you to find your spirits. That someone also now knows we have brought you here." Seraphimon's voiced boomed within the room.

"Who is it?" Kouichi asked.

"We do not know. That is another reason you are here. The one who planned those battles has disrupted the balance in the Digital World." the great angel replied.

Sorcerymon then said,"If I may interrupt my Lord?" Seraphimon nodded and Sorcerymon continued,"they have also created fluxes which disrupts the balance Lord Seraphimon speaks of. No one knows why they are being created and for what purpose, but those fluxes are very dangerous because they can change things, and if the balance of this world tips over..."

"The Digital World will be destroyed and the Human World will be disrupted as well." Seraphimon finished.

Mai hesitated and then said,"So that digimon who you said planned the battles...are we of some threat to them?"

"Apparently you are. So far they have let you defeat their minions, find the two spirits, and arrive here safely. I have no doubt that it is a part of their plan." Seraphimon answered.

The raven-haired girl paused and continued,"I can understand why you brought them here," she pointed at everyone but Kimiko. "But what about Kimiko and I? How did you know those spirits were ours?"

An unexpected voice spoke up. It was Cherubimon. Those who had known him when he was evil noticed the difference in the way his voice sounded when he talked.

"Only one digimon knew those spirits existed in the first places and knew they were yours. Minervamon told us three of two girls who were the holders of those two spirits. She said that they would find the two spirits of legend that had been missing for many years, and that two warriors would be reborn upon their discovery. After we were told of this, plus with the disruption of the Digital World's balance, Ophanimon called on six of the ten Legendary Warriors to return to help in saving the two worlds, and the two of you." Cherubimon explained.

"Your next destination is to where Minervamon resides and she will explain everything to you. Ophanimon, Cherubimon, and I will do everything we can to maintain the balance from here. Sorcerymon will be your guide, for Minervamon is currently located in Witchelny, and he knows the location of it as well as some other important information that you will be needing." Ophanimon said with her gentle voice.

"Allright, but who is Minervamon?" Takuya suddenly asked.

"She is one of the Olympus Twelve." she replied.

Mai frowned. "I've heard that somewhere before." she muttered and then realized everyone was looking at her.

She explained,"It was when I found myself in the Hidden Moon Village. The digimon there were introducing themselves and they briefly mentioned that their leader...Dianamon I believe, was one of the Olympus Twelve and went to a council where all of them were gathering. They said she never came back though."

The Celestial Angels nodded. Ophanimon told Mai,"Yes, Dianamon is one of them like Minervamon. Hmm...that is strange. Perhaps you can ask Minervamon yourselves about that."

Seraphimon then noticed that some of them had an expression on their face. He knew what they were wondering and said aloud,"Bokomon, Neemon, you may come in now."

Everyone heard a scuffle come from the outside of the room and watched as a door that led into the room open. Two digimon came in, one of them arguing with the other. Besides the twin girls, Takuya and the others smiled at the digimon arguing. Those were the digimon they knew. The shorter digimon was white, had a horned head and pointed ears. He had three claws at the end of his hands and feet, and he wore a pink body warmer around his stomach and waist. Mai and Kimiko found out he was named Bokomon and noticed he carried a large green book inside the body warmer.

The digimon next to Bokomon who was taller resembled a skinny yellow rabbit creature with long pointed ears. He had stubby arms and wore large redpants that covered his feet. His name was Neemon and he had a dazed look on his face as he stared at the crystal walls. The digimon named Bokomon glared at him and pulled at his pants. A snap was heard as he let go of them and Neemon let out a squeal. Kimiko burst out laughing, and the others except Mai and Kouji started laughing out loud as well. A small smile appeared on Mai's face while Kouji rolled his eyes.

The two digimon saw that the children they had helped before in order to save the Digital World and Real World were no longer children, but teenagers. They rushed over to them and were greeted warmly.

"We missed you guys!" Takuya exclaimed and tried giving Neemon a high five, but the digimon tripped over and fell on his face. The gogglehead laughed again and helped him get up.

Before they could say more however, Seraphimon cleared his throat. Everyone paid attention to what he had to say.

"Before we forget, there are three spirits that need to be given." he said and nodded to Ophanimon.

Her voice echoed in the room. "The spirits of ice, thunder, and wind. These are the only ones we were able to find. The others you have found already." She nodded towards Takuya, Kouji, and Kouichi.

Tommy, J.P, and Zoe waited patiently. Ophanimon made a different motion with her javelin, and three bright lights appeared. On cue, the three took out their D-tectors and pointed them at the tip of the javelin. The three bright lights traveled into the D-tectors, and the symbols for ice, thunder, and wind appeared on the screens. The three smiled at receiving their spirits and thanked Ophanimon. Seraphimon then spoke again.

"Once again, the fate of the two worlds rest in your hands." the familiar phrase reached Mai and the others. She couldn't believe she was in this position again. As much as she wanted to say aloud that she couldn't help them with this, she knew she couldn't do it.

'Saving the Digital World and Real World again? I wonder how it will go this time.'

* * *

Kimiko took a step back and shook her head. Her hand was raised at the door, about to knock, when she changed her mind again. She couldn't do it. What would she say? Kimiko turned around and was about to walk away when the door opened. The girl with the same dark hair and green eyes looked out and called out to her.

"Hey." she said. Kimiko stopped and turned around.

"Can..can I come in?" she asked timidly. The other girl looked at her for a few seconds and frowned. Then she nodded and walked back into the room. Kimiko went inside.

Like all the other rooms in the castle, this one was surrounded by a crystal wall that sparkled when the sunlight hit it at a certain angle. There was a bed that was neatly made, and 2 chairs. Mai sat in one of the chairs and Kimiko did the same. They sat in silence, each waiting for the other to say something. Mai then sighed and started.

"I...this is just weird. There's a lot of questions I want to ask you, but I can't organize my mind enough to ask one. So, you go first." Mai said.

Kimiko nodded,"Well, maybe I can answer one of your questions. My full name is Kimiko Yamaguchi. What about yours?"

"I'm Mai Suzuki. I already knew Suzuki wasn't my real last name however. It was the surname of a family who adopted me for awhile until..." Mai stopped.

"Until what?" Kimiko asked.

Mai closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "It's complicated so I'll cut it down some. The Suzuki family found me wandering around in Tokyo, well their son did, and they decided to adopt me. I was living happily with them until one day... Hiroshi Suzuki, their only child, he died in a car accident. He acted as if he was my real older brother and treated me well. After he passed away, I decided I didn't want to trouble the family and I ran away. Other things happened after that, I moved around a lot, and I finally arrived back in Tokyo."

Kimiko then asked Mai,"What about before you met the family? How were you able to..." Mai raised a hand to stop her.

She tapped her fingers on her knee, trying to think of how to respond. Then,"This might take awhile so I hope you're good at staying awake late. Then when I'm done, you can tell your story or stories."

"I stay up late almost every day, trying to study for tests and such."Kimiko told her and then she said,"Ok."

"Allright, then listen up." Mai replied. She took a few deep breaths, and let them out.

As she prepared to tell Kimiko pretty much her whole life story, she wondered what the others were doing. She also wondered if a certain someone was thinking about her. Quickly, she banished that last thought and scolded herself for even thinking of that. Besides, she knew there wasn't any reason he would wonder about her. However, she remembered when he talked to her at the Hidden Moon Village and how he told her she wasn't like any other girls and how he had tried to tell her something twice. What if...

"Mai?" Kimiko interrupted her thoughts. She frowned as she saw the dazed look in her face and a small smile appear. What was she thinking about?

Mai cleared her head from the stray thoughts. "Right, sorry. Just had something else on my mind."

She then cleared her throat and began telling the story she had been wanting to tell someone for a long time.

* * *

Next and final chapter of Part 2: Departure Please R&R but no FLAMES!  



	28. Departure

Finally, it's done. Once again, happy new year!

* * *

**Chapter 28: Departure**

_'Meet me first thing in the morning, at the Eastern Wing of the castle, the first room on your right. There's something I have to tell you.'_ Mai had heard the familiar voice in her head when she was telling Kimiko her story. She almost gave away that she heard it to Kimiko, but she managed to stay on track with her mind.

Once the two girls told each other what they had to say, they went to sleep. Mai could hear Kimiko muttering some words as she slept, but as for her...she stayed up most of the night thinking about the thought Kouji had sent her.

It was surprising the first time he did it, back at the Hidden Moon Village. Mai was too busy talking to him with her mind, that she didn't wonder about how she did it. Later on, Lunamon explained to her that the village gave off traces of magic to those who were in the village. That was one of the reasons the villagers had chosen to live her. Not only did the lake form a barrier between their village and the rest of the Digital World, but it provided a sense of security with the magic it gave them. Within a few days, every digimon in the village whether young or old, could perform some type of magic. One of them was reading others' thoughts and sending them thoughts.

"One thing that amazes me however is that the three of you were able to learn how to do that in a short amount of time." Lunamon had said.

Soon, Mai and Kouji weren't the only ones who learned how to read each other's thoughts or send a thought, but Kouichi had also figured it out as well when he had accidentally called Mai with his mind and she arrived where he was. Then a certain point came when Kouji found out how to block someone who was trying to reach your thoughts. He told the other two out of the villagers' reach, and they had practiced it as they waited for the spell to be removed from the lake. Now if they ever wished to talk to each other without the villagers listening, they could. It wasn't that they didn't like them, but being secluded from the rest of the Digital World tended to make the villagers nosy and probe within the human's minds, messing with their thoughts.

With all of these wandering thoughts and memories, Mai was finally able to fall asleep. She dreamed she was still living at the Suzuki home and that Hiroshi was still alive. In the dream Hiroshi would smile at her caringly and tell her bedtime stories about a strange world that was similar to theirs in geography but different in content. The world was full of strange monsters that roamed the world freely. The dream suddenly changed, and Mai saw a little girl with dark hair and sparkling green eyes. She was in a dark forest, and in her hand was a small device that gave off light in order to keep off the dangerous monsters that tried to approach her. The girl was looking for something but couldn't seem to find it. Then she saw a light that wasn't as bright as her device's light, but it was definitely brighter than where she was. She ran past the dark trees and other plant life and then found herself outside the forest and on a cliff.

The girl stumbled back in fear, and then she looked out what layed beyond the edge of the cliff. It was an ocean but it was different from any ocean she had seen. The waves instead of being white were a gray to black color. The color of the entire ocean was the same color as well. She felt a strange feeling of terror come from the ocean almost as if it was trying to pull her in to take her away for ever. The girl struggled for a few minutes trying to fight off the ocean's power. Then her device threw off an even brighter light than it had before. The ocean stopped trying to claim her and the waves went back in the water. As for the girl...she was on her knees gasping for breath. After a few minutes she stood up and looked out at the ocean.

"Not today, nor tommorow." was all she said. Then she turned around and headed back into the dark forest, leaving the ocean behind her.

* * *

Mai thought she would never find the room Kouji was in, seeing as she couldn't even find the Eastern Wing. She had woken up at a very early time, her watch said it was 5:30 AM. Mai knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, therefore she decided to go find the room and maybe arrive there before Kouji did. 

However, what had seemed to be an easy task at first, turned out to be a trip through a maze. She had spent two hours wandering the castle, and still couldn't find the stupid sign that read Eastern Wing! Frustrated, Mai took out her D-tector in hopes it would tell her if the person she was meeting was nearby. The screen was blank and no holographic map appeared out in front of her. Mai then recalled that the day before after the group had met with the great angels, Sorcerymon told them a bit about the castle's structure. The castle was what it appeared to be, pure sparkling crystal. The crystal had a special property that blocked any signals trying to reach inside.

_'I guess it also blocks D-tector signals trying to reach __within__ the castle itself.'_ she thought as continued exploring the castle.

Mai knew she had a limited time because this same morning, the group of Legendary Warriors and three digimon would be heading out towards Witchelny. She needed to find the room fast and see what Kouji had to tell her.

Speaking of which, what did he want to say? Mai spent the two hours thinking about what the answer could be as she searched for the room. She tried coming up with possible answers but none of them seemed to fit Kouji's personality. In the end she had arrived at a conclusion. It wasn't the answer, but it related to it. He was going to tell her what he tried to tell her the other two times they were alone.

_'I guess third time's the charm.'_ she thought to herself amused.

_'What is?'_ a voice replied. Mai nearly cried out in surprise.

_'Kouji! What the heck! You scared me!' _Mai called back in her head.

_'Whoa, calm down. If you keep talking that loud in your mind, you might be heard by someone.' _Kouji said.

Mai shook her head to clear her mind. She asked him where he was.

_'Where you're headed. East Wing, first room on your right. Or a better answer would be, just a few doors down from where you are.' _he replied.

Mai frowned. _'What...oh.' _Her sudden silence puzzled Kouji. He asked what was going on.

She didn't reply at first but then said in her mind,_'I see the sign that says East Wing.' _Mai continued walking, and then she arrived at the sign.

Then she looked at the first door on her right. Her hand reached out for the doorknob, also made out of crystal, and she slowly began turning it. Mai pushed in the door and entered the room.

* * *

Kouji was looking out a window outside the castle. He seemed to be deep in thought because he didn't turn around when Mai entered the room. She walked at a normal pace to where he was and rested her arms on the windowsill. Both of them looked out the window into the outside world for a few minutes. A soft wind blew through the window, a cool and gentle touch to both of them. 

"So what is so important that you made me wander for two hours throughout the castle, searching for this room?" Mai finally asked.

He didn't reply and instead continued looking out the window. Mai waited calmly on the outside, but inside she was as impatient as a little kid on Christmas Eve who wanted to open the presents.

Mai joked,"Does it always take you this long to answer a question?"

Kouji blinked and then shook his head. "Sorry, and no it doesn't. I'm just wondering that if what I'm going to say will sound like someone else instead of myself."

"Which is?"

Kouji chuckled. Even the chuckle didn't sound like himself. "This is weird. Ah well, might as well say it and get it over with."

He cleared his throat. Mai felt her mind go numb and she waited eagerly. What if...could he be thinking the same as her?

"You're very different from the other girls. You are seriously the only girl who hasn't fallen head over heels at the sight of me. Even Zoe admitted how she felt about me once. It's disturbing to find myself wake up every morning for school, knowing I would have some girl think about me all day. So it's safe for me to say that I think you're a remarkable person, one who can even be a close friend. Just to let you know, I don't compliment anybody I just recently met. It took me awhile to even consider saying something positive about Takuya. So...when we're done with all of this saving the two worlds, maybe you can show us your guitar skills? When you mentioned you could play guitar, I admit I was curious. Also, after seeing you perform in kendo and soccer, I have no doubt that you're awsome at playing guitar." Kouji attempted a smile, but it didn't turn out so well.

"Oh well, can't get everything." he said, referring to the smile.

Mai was silent. She tried to reply right away, but her words were stuck at her mouth. Kouji noticed and wondered if he should have said anything at all.

Then Mai chuckled. "You're right, that doesn't sound like yourself. I didn't even know you could be the curious type of person. Anyway, thanks for the compliment. I guess I could show you guys my guitar skills, but you're probably better than me. There's a difference between music and sports skills."

"I suppose." Kouji remarked.

She looked away from the window and yawned. "Still tired." She said to Kouji.

He nodded and then said,"We should get going. They'll be wondering where we are and we're supposed to leave today."

"Yeah. Hey, you go on ahead. I need to take a break from all that walking."

"You sure you won't get lost this time?" a smug smile appeared on Kouji's face.

He was startled when she pushed him away in a playful manner. "I'm not an idiot."

"Heh, allright." he said and headed out the door.

Mai waited as he left the room. When she was sure he was far away from where she was, she turned back around to look out the window. It took her a few minutes to realize what the wet stuff that appeared on her face was. The tears came slowly, but they were tears nonetheless. Mai wiped them away with the sleeve of her shirt, but she knew she couldn't stop them. Life didn't end right there and then, yet why did she feel so unhappy?

She knew what it was. Kouji had unintentionally hurt her feelings. Mai couldn't blame him because he didn't know what was going on with her. Only Mai knew her feelings, and she felt even worse that she let them happen.

"Baka, baka!" she muttered the word for 'idiot' in Japanese. "That's what I am." However, it wasn't completely her fault. Sometimes emotions are hard to control. It was a natural process.

Nevertheless, because she was unable to control her feelings, Mai Suzuki had accidentally fallen in love with Kouji Minamoto.

* * *

"There she is." Kouichi pointed out. 

Mai walked in the large room where they had gathered before. She had a calm expression on her face, and waved a hand when she came in the room.

"Sorry, I guess I did have trouble finding my way here." Mai said aloud. Kouji raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Of course.

Takuya nodded but wasn't really listening. "Ok, _now_ everyone is here."

"Here and ready to go." Tommy announced. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Wait, where are Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon?" Zoe asked, looking around.

Sorcerymon replied,"They trust that we can leave by ourselves without their farewell. Besides, they expect to see you soon. Does everyone have what they need?"

"Yes, yes." he was answered.

"Then let's head out." Sorcerymon stated.

They left the large crystal room and went to the front entrance. Sorcerymon raised his staff and a bright light came from it. It entered the large keyhole like the lights from their D-tector's, and unlocked the two massive doors. They slowly swung open, revealing the outside. Sorcerymon put the staff away inside his cloak, and then covered himself with it.

Once the group was outside the castle, the doors closed behind them and locked themselves once more. They continued walking, their next destination: Witchelny.

**END OF PART 2**

* * *

Please R no FLAMES! 


	29. Precaution

I lost count on how it's been since I've updated. Yes, it's summer and I really, _really_ hope to update as soon as possible. Right know, the completion of the story is unknown to me as I plan out the details of the chapters. There's a possibility I might have a fourth part to shorten the third part, but I'm not sure. Anyways, here's the first chapter of part 3! ;D Enjoy, although there's mostly explanation stuff in this chapter. The action will arrive soon.

* * *

**PART 3: NAMINE**

* * *

**Chapter 29: Precaution**

A small fire flickered back and forth, its light bouncing off the sleeping travelers and their resting place. Some of them snored as they were off in their own dreams, while others mumbled incoherent words. All of them slept peacefuly except two.

Sorcerymon didn't seemed bothered by sleep as he kept watch for the Legendary Warriors. At first they had protested upon his decision but he shook them off saying it was his duty to protect them. Finally, too tired to argue back, the Frontier group went to sleep on the soft grass and drifted off. Their companion digimon, Bokomon and Neemon also fell asleep within a few minutes. The sorcerer digimon gazed up at the night sky and closed his eyes for a few seconds, as he saved the image of the night sky's beauty in his mind.

"Where are you going, great Warrior of Light?" Sorcerymon inquired calmly without bothering to open his eyes. He heard a soft mutter that he knew wasn't meant for him.

Kouji Minamoto kept his facial expression blank as he replied to Sorcerymon,"Just going out for a stroll."

The digimon raised an eyebrow and Kouji added,"I can't sleep." Sorcerymon nodded as an approval and the Warrior of Light left the resting place.

As he walked throughout the forest in the calm night, Kouji was able to let his mind wander. Several thoughts approached him but one thought in mind stood above all. When he was sure he was far enough away from where the others rested, but close enough that he could arrive back quickly, Kouji sat against a tree and sighed. Then, he struck his right fist at the ground. He barely felt the pain as the thoughts overwhelmed his mind.

_'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!' _Kouji swore several times, knowing his parents and brother would disapprove for his use of foul language. But he didn't care. It didn't matter to him because it didn't compare to what he had done. He blew it and now it would bother him until he fixed the problem.

_'Why the __**hell **__did I say that?! One who can be a close friend?!' _he shouted in his head in fury. After a few minutes passed, Kouji was able to settle down and think things through.

First, he thought about what he had told Mai when they were alone that morning in that room. Kouji remembered how stupid he had sounded when he told Mai the lie about being friends. He knew it was a lie, grotesque when he thought about it because it wasn't what he planned on telling Mai. Yet when she arrived in the room, Kouji couldn't bring himself to say it for many reasons and ended up blowing it off. Luckily for him Mai didn't seem to notice anything wrong with what he said and didn't bother to check his mind to see if it was true or not.

Then, Kouji thought about what had really wanted to tell Mai. However, he had trouble even saying it to himself. He couldn't believe he wanted to tell her _that_. It was completely unlike his personality, his _entire being_, unlike himself in any way! It was no wonder Kouji wasn't able to tell her. If he didn't even believe it himself how could he have possibly told her? Again, Kouji settled himself and let out a deep breath. Now he was able to say the statement to himself, the same statement that Mai was supposed to hear, not the lie he ended up telling her.

_'I __**love**__ you.'_

It wasn't: I think you're great, You're amazing, etc. It was that statement, a strong and powerful one that made a difference. Once again Kouji wondered if he really felt that way about Mai, or if he was just going insane.

Finally, he thought about why he wanted to say those words to Mai. _Mai_. A girl he had barely met and hadn't known for hardly any time at all. As the name drifted in his mind, Kouji's stomach lurched and his heart rushed. Kouji clenched his fists as he for the third time, tried to control himself. This he considered bizarre beyond anything else. It had been two years since his emotions had went this out of control. The last time Kouji almost left his house in anger, but that was another case. This was something different. Something he had never experienced unlike anger which he had went through many times.

A memory then ran through Kouji's mind. It was one of the others and Zoe, when she was talking to them one day on a particular subject. Back then, the idea never struck his mind that it would happen to him. The others felt the same. Knowing how he was, they didn't even dare to question him about it unless they wanted to sound like idiots. Now, Kouji felt like an idiot. Now he knew it was possible, even for him. What was it that Zoe called it? Love at first sight? No, it wasn't quite like that. It happened later after he knew a bit more about her.

The first time, at the soccer field he wanted to congratulate her for beating (and humiliating) him in the kendo match. The second time he wasn't exactly going to tell her how he felt because his feelings hadn't fully developed yet. That time he wanted to congratulate and compliment her for getting her spirit and defeating the enemy digimon. Then, the third time...it was after he knew how he felt, as strange as it was. Even though Kouji had only met Mai for a short amount of time, many events had occured since he picked up her books in the hallway to when they arrived at Seraphimon's castle.

_'This vaguely reminds me of Romeo and Juliet. Except both Romeo and Juliet were idiots, killing themselves in the end. But this __isn't__ love at first sight,' _Kouji thought.

Then what was it exactly? He had to agree that Mai looked attractive in some way (and penalized himself for even thinking that in the first place) but he didn't like her for that. He liked her because...

_'Kouji-san?'_ he heard the soft, gentle, familar voice in his mind approach. Quickly, he hid all his previous thoughts and locked them away, but couldn't help but feel his heart leap several times.

_'Yeah?'_ Kouji replied back to Mai. She must have woken up, unable to sleep like him.

_'Sorcerymon said you couldn't sleep and went out for a stroll. Where are you?'_she asked him. Kouji shivered on impulse as the tendrils of her mind touched his. He took another deep breath and let it out.

Kouji answered,_'Just out here. I'm heading back to where you and the others are.'_

_'Ah, allright.' _he heard her say before she left his mind.

He let a few more seconds pass before he finally got up. As Kouji walked back to where the others were, he wondered...

_'Should I tell her the truth? Would it be better if I told her or would things change for the worse?'_

* * *

"Yosh! So...how exactly are we getting to Witchelny?" a rather overenthusiastic Takuya asked their digimon guide. Everyone turned their attention towards him as they were sitting down forming a circle at their resting place.

Sorcerymon remained silent for a few minutes, deep in thought. His sorcerer's pointed hat covered his eyes so the others couldn't tell by his facial expression what he was thinking.

Finally...

"Hmm...an interesting question. One that will require some explanation." the digimon replied smoothly. Takuya's shoulders slumped and an annoyed expression appeared on his face. He didn't exactly enjoy long stories unless they hit a particular subject that was his favorite. Otherwise they reminded him of the lectures his parents gave him whenever he did something bad in their viewpoint.

"No offense...but aren't we in a hurry to arrive at Witchelny?" Kimiko pointed out before Takuya.

The digimon nodded but responded,"If we are in need of arriving on time, we will. There are some things about my old home that you don't know about, especially since no human has treaded on the land of Witchelny." He glanced at Mai who received looks from everyone else as well. She nodded to Sorcerymon's silent question.

"It's one of the few places I _haven't_ been to," Mai added in, "Witchelny cannot be reached by a digimon and certainly not a human unless they are with a magical digimon. Only the digimon who have lived there will know how to enter."

"That is correct. Of course there is a valid reason as to why Witchelny is kept secret from the eyes of others. It is a dangerous place and holds many deep and dark secrets that are not allowed to be known by others. The land itself is full of magic that travels about and that magic can have severe effects on any nonmagical digimon that enters. I suppose you could call the land cursed." Sorcerymon continued from where he left off. He remained silent for a bit to let the humans think about his words.

The book holding digimon, Bokomon then asked Sorcerymon,"Once we enter Witchelny, won't it be obvious to the digimon there that we're from outside? I've heard stories about the land and the creatures that live there. Most of them are rather unpleasant..."

"Yes, most of the digimon in Witchelny are dark creatures that could turn agains us if we are not careful. However, there are digimon whose reliance rests on Lady Ophanimon, Lord Seraphimon, and Lord Cherubimon. Now, I will explain to you what you need to know about Witchelny, its inhabitants, and other things. Please, all of you must listen carefully to what I say because once we arrive there your safety is at risk and everyone must be prepared." Sorcerymon looked at the humans and then looked at Bokomon and Neemon. Everyone nodded together.

Sorcerymon took a deep breath and then let it out. He turned his attention to Mai and said,"First, what I will say regards you, Legendary Warrior of the Moon. You play an important role in this and you must be aware and be prepared to take certain actions when the time comes." He waited until Mai nodded to indicate she was ready.

Before anyone could interrupt with a question, Sorcerymon answered them. "I will warn you that when everyone arrives at Witchelny, some of you will not be able to spirit evolve if you are in danger. That is why I'm taking the time to explain any precautions and such. However, I do know for a fact that your friend here will be able to spirit evolve into Lunemon. The reason why is because Lunemon is a magical type of digimon. You could also classify her as a Night Soldier which is mainly the type of digimon that resides in Witchelny. Lunemon has hidden magic that she can use freely in Witchelny and that will be beneficial to all of you, and she will be able to help me to help everyone reach our destination."

The sorceror digimon continued,"I will set wards on everyone to protect you from the harmful magic of the land. Also, as a rule, you must stick together as much as possible. If you cannot stay together as an entire group then make sure you are _at least _with someone else. Do not go anywhere _alone_. Is that understood?"

Everyone agreed in unison indicating for the magical digimon to keep explaining.

"As Bokomon asked before about our identity being known in Witchelny by the other digimon; there is a solution to this. Right now I am restricted from using most of my magic simply because of the setting I am in. However, when we reach the outskirts of the land, I will use my magic to disguise everyone as a digimon that lives in Witchelny. It will mostly be an illusion so once again, you must take caution. We will hurry and find Minervamon's location. All of you will be safer there. Then, we will gather the information we need, and depart from Witchelny as quickly as time will let us. Now, I will tell everyone how we will arrive at Witchelny." At the mention of his final words, everyone payed more closer attention than before.

Sorcerymon went on. "We will continue walking a bit more and by later today we will arrive at a small village. It is an empty and secluded place but once there, we will be able to arrive at Witchelny. There is a graveyard close to the village and there are doors or gates that lead to different places of the Digital World. I have even heard that some of the gates lead to other locations that aren't in the Digital World."

"Graveyard? Ugh...that's wonderful." the Warrior of Wind, Zoe commented sarcastically. The other weren't too happy about it either.

"Wait, Sorcerymon...why is that village empty?" Tommy asked.

The digimon replied,"I do not know, young one. In the times that I have traveled to that village, I have never seen anyone that lived there."

"That's...creepy." Kimiko said.

Mai who had been listening closely as she was supposed to began figuring out Sorcerymon's plan. "So...I'm going to help you open the gate that leads to Witchelny?" everyone was silent as they listened to her question.

Sorcerymon nodded. "You will spirit evolve into Lunemon and then using some of your magic, and I using mine, we will be able to open it. It seems difficult but when we get there, you will not find the task a challenge. Lady Ophanimon told me to entrust you with this, therefore she believes that you can do it."

"That's nice of her." Mai said quietly. She meant what she said.

Zoe turned to Mai and spoke out loud for everyone,"Well, I believe that you can do it also Mai-chan." She smiled at Mai whose expression became confused.

"Me too." Kouichi, Tommy, and J.P. spoke in unison.

At hearing Zoe speak, Takuya also agreed as well. Kouji nodded instead of speaking.

Then finally, Kimiko said,"Well I don't believe you can do it. I _know_ you can." She like Zoe, smiled as well.

"Thanks...everyone. Wow, that's a record. I never had that many people trust me at the same time." A small smile replaced Mai's confused expression.

Bokomon added,"I may not know you two yet," he pointed out Mai and Kimiko,"but the two of you are Legendary Warriors and three Guardian Angels would not have callen you if they didn't believe you were the ones to receive the spirits of the Sun and Moon. You two like the others, hold great potential and will be a great addition to the team."

"Since when did we have a team Bokomon? Eh?" Right on cue, the rabbit-like digimon Neemon spoke up receiving a few laughs from everyone. Bokomon frowned but did not reply to his digimon friend's question. He knew it would lead to something that he didn't want to get himself into.

Sorcerymon spoke once more,"Yes, although you may not see the potential you two hold, I assure you it is there. Now...any questions?"

* * *

Yaadeeyah, the usual. Reviews are welcome, Flaming is not.


	30. A Friend In Need

Ah, yet another non-actiony chapter. / I'm getting there!

* * *

**Chapter 30: A Friend In Need**

The grand Legendary Warriors walked with determination towards their destination. Everyone individual that made up their group was ready to face the challenges and dangers that waited them. Even their guide and two companions that were with them knew that their role was important to the Warriors' success.

All of them were ready and wi-

"Hey, Bokomon are we there yet?" a high-pitched voice inquired.

Yes. All of them were ready and with pat-

"No Neemon. For the _tenth_ time, we're not there yet." a lower condescending voice responded.

Ready and with _patience_ they-

"He never learns does he?" The blonde warrior of wind muttered so only her and the people close to her could hear. Takuya snorted to himself receiving some eye rolling. J.P. and Tommy sighed in unison as they walked behind him.

If one approached the traveling group they could see it being split into two smaller groups with three digimon in between. On the left side of the group Takuya took the lead followed by Zoe and the other two boys on her left. Sorcerymon was in the center of the entire group followed by Bokomon and Neemon who sprinted to keep up.

On the right walking with ease and much calm in their facial expressions were the other warriors. They unlike the others walked in a line that was almost straight. Kouji strode forward to where he appeared in the lead. He glanced sideways and saw Takuya make a frustrated expression. A small smirk lit up on his face as he walked faster to stay in front of the brunette gogglehead. Behind him walked Kimiko who payed no attention to everyone around her as she played around with her D-tector. Earlier she had seen something in the screen that caught her attention and now she pressed the buttons on it to see if she could find it.

Her lost, now found, twin sister Mai Suzuki also seemed to be deep in her thoughts as she looked down with her eyes at the ground she treaded. At first her face showed nothing but then she frowned for a few minutes. Last in line walked Kouji's twin brother Kouichi as he looked around him until his attention was caught by Mai's frowning.

Not wanting to disturb the others Kouichi reached for Mai's mind and tried to enter it. He was quickly blocked by tough steel wall that surrounded Mai's mind. Before he could be kicked out, Kouichi spoke in her mind.

_'Mai it's me, Kouichi.' _he said gently.

_'Kouichi? Oh, sorry.'_ Mai slowly lowered the barriers that surrounded her mind to let Kouichi in and then raising them to keep others out.

Kouichi hid a grin. _'It doesn't hurt to be cautious.'_

_'It certainly doesn't. Anyway, what is it that you have to say that required you to enter my mind?'_

The short raven-haired boy went straight to the point. _'Something's wrong. With you.'_ It wasn't a question.

_'What makes you say that?'_ Mai asked him, at the same time wondering.

_'You've been rather quiet.'_

_'Well there isn't anything I can exactly say to pass the time as everyone is walking. Nor do I see a reason for me to speak.' _Mai retorted.

_'True but...Well did you happen to meet with Kouji alone when we were at the castle?'_The words were straight on the mark.

Kouichi added,_'He thought I was asleep but I felt him leave the room that we were given to rest in. When I entered his unprotected mind I saw through his eyes enter a room and wait. Then I guess he noticed someone was in his head because after he blocked his thoughts and whatever else he saw.'_

Mai remained silent in her head. Of course she should have expected something like this to come from Kouichi. Back when they were in the Hidden Moon Village she noticed the Kouichi was a very observant person, even if he didn't seem like it. She knew she had to tell him something.

_'Yeah, we met. He wanted to tell me something, that's all.' _Mai smoothly replied. However, her reply didn't satisfy Kouichi.

_'What did he say to you? Because when he came back to the room he looked upset over something.' _

Mai's eyebrows met for less than a second. _'He did? That's...interesting. Well he just complimented me on some stuff and asked if I could share my knowledge at playing the guitar.'_

_'Hmm. Okay...but I can 'see' there's something you're not telling me.' _Yet again Kouichi could detect the flaws in her speech.

_'I...I don't have to tell you everything!'_ Mai sharply replied. She was uncomfortable at having this conversation and didn't want to continue.

Unaffected by her response Kouichi said to her, _'No, you don't. But if there's something bothering you then you should say what it is. I just sense that there is and am worried.'_

_'Worrywart. Well, it has nothing to do with you and I can deal with it on my own. Thank you for being concerned but there's nothing more that you need to hear. End of discussion, goodbye.'_ Kouichi took that as a cue to leave.

However, before he left Mai's mind he said,_'I'm not done yet, Mai Suzuki.'_

For some reason that caused a slight chill to run up her spine. As they continued to walk to the village they were headed to, Mai ignored Kouichi throughout the trip. However, he didn't attempt to cross the threshold into her mind again. For now.

* * *

"We're here." Sorcerymon said softly as they approached a group of trees that were closely clustered together than any previous ones they had seen. The digimon muttered an incantation that the others couldn't hear and the trees bended to reveal what they hid.

Everyone followed Sorcerymon quietly through the space the trees had made for them to cross and payed close attention as they came into view of a deserted village. Sorcerymon was correct that it was deserted. Some of the warriors were reminded of the previous village they had entered that was empty and what they had stumbled across. However, they didn't wish to continue remembering and banished the memory aside.

Again Sorcerymon muttered a few words incomprehensible to everyone else until he appeared satisfied.

"It's safe. The graveyard isn't far off. Everyone can explore the village if you wish while I go find the gate." He turned to the humans, Bokomon and Neemon. They nodded once and then he was gone in a blink of an eye.

"Soo..." Takuya began.

Something lit up in Kouichi's eyes. Luckily no one else saw it.

He said before anyone else,"Hey Mai, do you want to go check out that building over there?" Kouichi cheerfully spoke.

"Uh..." She was caught in the trap before she had time to react. Showing her defeat to him she nodded and followed him to an inn.

The others were puzzled at the sudden pairing but didn't explore it further.

Then Zoe suggested,"I guess each of us can go in pairs and check out different parts of the village?" She received some grunts from the guys and a nod from Kimiko.

"I'll go with you and we can take a look over there." said Kimiko. After receiving an affirmative reply the two girls wandered off to what appeared to be a restaurant.

"Dang it. I wanted to go with Zoe." J.P. didn't bother to hide his thoughts. He turned to the shorter boy beside him. Tommy shrugged and began walking on the rugged path that led to the village. He was soon followed by J.P.

"Guess that leaves you and me Kouji." Takuya sighed.

"Great." The raven-haired teenager replied.

"What?" Takuya asked as Kouji left him following the path the others took. "Hey, wait up!"

Surprisingly, the door to the inn was unlocked as Kouichi happily entered the building. Mai made a few noises of disgust as she was caught in a few spiderwebs that were spread all over. There was a small tavern upon entering the inn with tables and seats that were dusty from the time being abandoned. Kouichi cleared off the mess on one of the chairs and tables and took a seat. He expectantly waited for Mai to do the same.

"Okay, you can put off that façade of yours Kouichi." Mai no longer appeared calm and collected. She scowled as she took a seat opposite of him.

Kouichi sighed and scooted up towards the table. "You sound like Kouji when you say that. Your face even looks like his when he says that."

At the mention of his name, Mai's flinched. Unfortunately for her Kouichi noticed. He scrutinized her until she finally had to look away. Kouichi sighed again and waited patiently.

Finally, _'Well...what do you want to hear?'_

_'Whatever's troubling you. Which there is. I'm going to throw a random guess out there and say it has something to do with my younger brother.' _

Mai flinched again. _'Lucky guess.'_

This time it was her turn to sigh. She remained silent for a bit and looked at the table in front of her, examining the wood it was made from.

_'Mai-chan...'_

_'I'm getting to it Kouichi. It's just not something I expected to share...with you. Because you're a guy. And you're his brother.'_ Mai replied.

_'I understand but I just want to know what's wrong. Besides I'm sure that if the circumstances were different, Zoe-chan would have been the one to ask you what's on your mind and not me.' _said Kouichi.

_'If the circumstances had been different, I might not have been upset in the first place.'_

"This is just weird! Talking to a guy who is asking me what's wrong with me?" Mai finally exclaimed aloud, though not too loudly.

"Getting past the weird part..." Kouichi said, trying to speed up the conversation. "And not wasting time..."

Mai clasped her hands and pressed her lips tight together. Then, she relaxed and nodded. "Allright, I'll tell you if it will get you to stop pestering me about it. On one condition."

"Yes?"

"Please don't laugh or tell anybody else."

Kouichi frowned. "That's two conditions."

"But you can do both right?" Mai raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I can." Kouichi replied.

Mai bit her lip and then spoke to Kouichi softly, telling her what he wanted to hear. She told him what Kouji told her when they met and she quickly retold their experiences when the three of them traveled throughout the Digital World to arrive at Seraphimon's castle.

In conclusion, Mai lowered her voice to where it was barely above a whisper and told Kouichi what troubled her. She told him because deep inside of her she trusted him. He simply had the image of being a reliable person and Mai also recalled when Kouji told her about Kouichi's change after she arrived. Kouichi listened in silence, never interrupting her.

"I don't know why...I just feel confused about it...but, I like him. _Like-like_." Mai admitted her secret to Kouichi. "_Love._" she whispered.

As promised on her first condition, Kouichi didn't laugh. His eyes merely widened in surprise.

"But," she quickly added, "I _obviously_ don't want him to know that because he's been nice to me so far. Plus you know, with the fanclub he has and I don't want him to think negatively of me because of how I feel about him. Now I just feel stupid that this happened. Stupid, sad and..." Mai's shoulders slumped as she covered her face with her hands.

"Ok. I won't tell him, or the others." Kouichi's voice softly said.

Mai looked at him in wonder. "Is that it?" she asked.

Kouichi nodded,"I said I just wanted to know what was wrong. Um...I'm sorry I don't have anything to say that will help you with your troubles but I'll think of something if you want." A weak smile appeared on his lips.

"Sure, go ahead. If _you_ want to." Mai sighed, feeling better at letting her thoughts out.

"Well," Kouichi stood up from his seat, "we should meet up with the others and eventually Sorcerymon. You have a big task ahead of you. Do you know how you're opening that gate to Witchelny?"

The Legendary Warrior of the Moon shook her head. "Not a clue. Maybe something will come to me when I spirit evolve. I always feel more confident when I'm Lunemon and not Mai."

This time Kouichi really smiled. "You'll always be Mai, Legendary Warrior or not."

Shaking her head, she replied,"You might have heard one secret from me Kouichi, but that doesn't mean you know everything about me."

Kouichi remembered her words and pondered at their hidden meaning.

Then he said to her,"Well if there's anything else that troubles you, you can tell me. Really."

Mai was able to smile herself. Forgetting previous thoughts and emotions, she leaned in and hugged Kouichi out of instinct.

"You're a good guy Kouichi-kun. A good friend too."

He followed her in silence as they left the inn and went to reunite with the others.

* * *

dah dum ;3 No Flames, the usual. Please review!


	31. The Gate

Yosh! ;3 I would have finished this sooner but I was distracted by MSN. Enjoy now that the story is getting somewhere!

* * *

**Chapter 31: The Gate**

"Allright Lonewolf. Spill it." A serious voice spoke to Kouji.

"What are you talking about?" Kouji frowned at Takuya, startled at his tone of voice.

A silly grin replaced the serious one as Takuya paced around Kouji in the small shop they entered. Kouji bit back a retort as he waited for Takuya to explain himself.

Takuya sighed. "You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

"Obviously not. Quit acting stupid and tell me!" Kouji growled, annoyed already. It was always like this with Takuya.

The gogglehead stopped pacing and shook his head. "And I thought I was supposed to be the idiot."

"You are."

Takuya shook his head again and this time he stopped being vague. "You like Mai don't you?"

Kouji was about to say something but stopped, caught by surprise. He stopped too long. Then he said,"Why do you say that?"

"So you _do_ like her?" Takuya laughed. He wasn't expecting this, just playing another one of his games with Kouji. However, he caught the reaction Kouji made and decided to keep going, wondering where it would lead to.

"I never agreed." Kouji fumed underneath his now blank expression.

"Reeally?" Takuya pressed him for information in his own style.

The Lonewolf began to say something again but nothing came out. How the hell was he supposed to reply to that? He remained silent, facing the torture that waited for him.

There wasn't any.After seeing that Kouji wasn't going to say anything, Takuya continued.

"_Okay_, I was just joking about that in the beginning. But...um allright. You like her. No big deal. A first, but not a problem. Does she know?" Takuya stopped behaving irrationally and asked Kouji seriously.

"What do you think?" Kouji clutched his temple as he leaned against the counter of the old shop. He definitely did not expect this.

"Erm well, ok. Are you going to tell Mai?" he asked.

"Why in the wo- why would I do that?"

Takuya frowned. "Right. Lonewolf. Forgot for a sec. But you should." he added at the end. All he received was a incomprehensible reply from the Lonewolf.

"I guess then...we should go back and meet with the others." Takuya said slowly.

"Finally, something I agree to." Kouji walked past the gogglehead and left the shop. Once again Takuya called out after him as he followed.

* * *

Everyone waited outside in front of the restaurant Kimiko and Zoe had explored. None of them had found much except dust and spiderwebs. Now they all waited for Sorcerymon to return. A distinct silence was held between two parties. Luckily the others didn't notice.

Then, everyone heard a soft patting noise and quickly turned to where it came from. The white cloacked magical digimon approached them calmly. He stopped a few feet away and nodded, indicating for them to follow him. Silently, the warriors and their two digimon companions walked behind Sorcerymon, leaving the desolate village behind.

At first the travelers encountered only more trees of the forest. The ground they treaded on was uneven as they approached the graveyard Sorcerymon had told them about. Soon they noticed the trees were becoming sparse as the continued walking, and the ground was more bare as well. Sorcerymon suddenly stopped at a black gate that surrounded the graveyard like a fence, causing the others to wobble as they tried not crashing into each other. He slowly pushed open the door of the gate and entered the land.

Everyone felt the feeling of dread as their eyes scanned the graveyard. It was the ideal image of what a graveyard looked like in movies or how it was described in books. The bleak land was even more desolate than the village that they had visited. Broken pieces of tombstones were scattered about, as if something came in and destroyed everything. Luckily for the travelers there was not any remains of beings that appeared to their eyes. However that did not keep them from sticking close together. Kimiko and Zoe stayed close together and near Takuya. The gogglehead noticed this and a smug and proud expression appeared on his face. However he raised an eyebrow when on his right he found J.P. and Tommy close to him as well.

Kouichi appeared calm as his eyes looked at the graveyard's land although he wondered why there would be a graveyard in the first place if digimon turned into digimon eggs when they died. He looked back at his brother and at Mai and didn't seem surprised that they didn't appear to be afraid. He did notice however that Mai carried a haunted look in her eyes as she looked at the tombstones. Kouichi suspected that she probably knew the reason for a graveyard to be in the Digital World. Yet he wanted to know why she looked so grim.

Like his older twin brother, Kouji noticed that Mai appeared stiff. She clutched her D-tector so tightly in her left hand that it turned pale. Her right hand formed a fist and was the same color as well. Mai's walking even seemed unnatural. She would take a few steps and then pause longer than she should, making Kouji pause as well so he wouldn't run into her.

_'Is she scared? Or is she worried about something else?'_ the Lonewolf thought as he payed attention to these details about the girl in front of him. He tried not to pay too much attention although, remembering the short event that occured earlier with the gogglehead.

Kouji attempted to scowl but the atmosphere in the air around him prevented him. Although he wasn't afraid of what might or might not be in the graveyard, he still felt uneasy walking in it. It was as if all of them were being watched by a dark force that wanted them to perish. A memory was triggered and Kouji also remembered the previous time he felt like this.

On his last trip to the Digital World when he and the others roamed the Dark Forest before they finally clashed with Duskmon. He knew things were different this time since Kouichi was no longer who he was before as he accompanied them this time as a Warrior. As of now, there wasn't anything that he _should_ fear that could appear in the graveyard. This seemed to calm him.

Again, Sorcerymon stopped suddenly and he looked up at an object. The magical Gate wasn't hidden as most of them thought it would be. It was a tall archway made of stone with runes engraved that sparkled. At the moment they gleamed dimly. Three of the Legendary Warriors gasped or changed their expressions. The others turned to face them and met expressions of surprise.

Mai stepped forward and gazed at The Gate. She muttered a few words to herself that catched Sorcerymon's attention.

"Kouji-san, Kouichi-san and I have seen another gate like this before. It was in a cave and it led us to one of the Digital Moons." she said a bit louder but still softly.

"Then you know how to open it." Sorcerymon's wise voice spoke.

She looked at her D-tector. "It could have been a one time thing. I remember that I was suddenly able to read the runes engraved in the stone of the door-w the Gate. Then my D-tector did something that opened it and then it was dark. When the three of us woke up we found ourselves in one of the rooms of the Starmon space station on the moon."

"Legendary Warrior of the Moon, you must have confidence in yourself. Yes it could be true that you were lucky that time but if you believe in yourself then you can achieve what you did once before." the digimon spoke with a hint of passion.

"We said that we believed in you Mai-chan. Now you have to do it yourself." Zoe spoke up. The others nodded alongside her.

Mai sighed and turned to face the others. A sad smile appeared on her lips. "I wish it was a easy as you said. Confidence isn't something I can just call upon like I would my spirit. Thank you for believing in me but I'm not sure if I can myself. There must be another way to open The Gate, isn't there?"

Sorcerymon shrugged. "None that I know of. As I said before, I will also use my magic to open the gate but I greatly need your assistance. I do not know how the powers of magic apply to you therefore you must find out yourself. However, we in are in a hurry to arrive in Witchelny. I'm afraid there isn't much time to figure out how to open this gate with your magic."

At that moment Kouichi interrupted the ongoing conversation. With a determined expression he looked at Mai who met his gaze.

"Mai, you said that you didn't feel like Mai when you spirit evolved in Lunemon right? If lack of confidence is what you have now, maybe Lunemon won't carry it as well?" he said to her. The others were surprised by his sudden words of wisdom. Some of them wondered when Mai had said what Kouichi repeated however.

Mai held Kouichi's gaze while still thinking inside her mind. She replied,"That's very possible. Well, I don't have anything to lose that I know of, so I guess I'll turn into Lunemon."

She nodded to Sorcerymon who nodded back. In a swift motion Mai lifted her D-tector and the band of digicode appeared around her hand. This time instead of crying out the words of spirit evolving aloud, she thought of them in her mind and a bright light appeared, illuminating everything within several yards. She could sense her worries disappear as Kouichi predicted, and the confidence inside of her grew stronger.

"Lunemon." Mai said this aloud and the Warrior of the Moon appeared.

Those who had not accompanied Mai on her trip to the moon gazed in astonishment and amazement as the person in front of them turned into one of the Legendary Warriors. They had seen several spirit evolutions of each other before but to them this was a new one.

_'She's beautiful while mysterious at the same time.' _Kimiko thought inside her mind. She felt proud that the Warrior of the Moon was her now found twin sister.

Takuya thought and then sideglanced at Kouji,_'Whoa, that could explain some things.' _The others had similar thoughts of amazement.

Sorcerymon looked a the Legendary Warrior and bowed before her. Lunemon replied with Mai's opinion in her voice,"You don't have to do that."

Then, Lunemon turned to The Gate and looked at the runes. She began muttering what sounded like an incantation and the others struggled to hear what she was saying. Slowly, Lunemon no longer saw strange shapes and symbols that were the runes, but instead words and phrases. She also spotted iridescent waves of the magic that traveled across the runes and wanted to reach for it.

"Sorcerymon, I'm ready." Lunemon spoke up in her mystical voice. The digimon nodded and stepped up to one of the sides of The Gate. Lunemon did the same on the opposite side. Everyone else remained silent, even Neemon, and watched to see what would occur.

Sorcerymon raised his crystal ice scepter and began chanting in a strange tone. Even Bokomon and Neemon could not understand the words that came from his mouth. Slowly the digimon's voice became louder and louder until it echoed throughout the graveyard and into the forest behind. The attention was turned to Lunemon who stared at the runes. She then turned to face Sorcerymon and moved her hands with her palms facing upward. Lunemon appeared as if she was receiving a gift in that position. Then, like Sorcerymon, Lunemon began a long incantation with the volume of her voice increasing every second.

The other Legendary Warriors gasped as they saw the effect that took place. Runes appeared throughout Lunemon's armor and glowed brightly as she chanted. The magic ran deep inside of her, wanting to be free. However she was able to supress from all of it being unleashed. Her dark hair rippled behind her as the magic created a wind that blew around her. Then, together Lunemon and Sorcerymon read the words that were engraved on The Gate. Their voices had an eerie and ominous tone as they did so.

_We call upon the magic deep within in our bodies_

_Embedded within our souls so that it may_

_Open The Gate of Journey _

_That which will help us and our companions _(the two of them added)

_Reach the unreachable land_

_Of Magyk and the Darkness that flows within the Magyk_

They released some of the power they held and then a bright light filled the space in The Gate's opening. The light became brighter and brighter, enveloping everyone. Except for Sorcerymon and Lunemon, everyone closed their eyes tightly to block out the tremendous light that hurt their eyes.

One second there was nothing but the light surrounding them...

Then, there was nothing but darkness...

* * *

Dah Dum. The usual ;D


	32. Arrival In Witchelny

Bwuahaha, with only 3 weeks and 3 days of school I am trying to progress the story as much as I can. I have finally planned out in plenty detail what will happen for the next chapters of part 3 and I hope to finish before the end of summer vacation. Yes, there is a part 4 and that will be the final part before the story ends. Please read and review without the inconsiderate flaming. Enjoy!

**Chapter 32: Arrival In Witchelny**

"Your Highness." the figure bowed down before its leader. The leader chuckled darkly.

"It is time for Objective 2. Those blasted Legendary Warriors have arrived in Witchelny. Hmm, I see they received some help in getting there and of course that particular Warrior was able to open The Gate as well." the figure bowing down sensed that its leader was talking more to itself.

Then the leader was aware of its surroundings and cleared its throat. "It is time for you to act. Go to Witchelny and kill our first target _after_ the Warriors are informed of their duty. Then they will look for myself and try to destroy me."

The figure cleared its throat and interrupted,"_Ahem_, is that wise? Wouldn't it be better to kill them off now?"

"No!" the leader's voice cut through the figure's defenses, making it bend to the leader's will. "Do not question me! I want them to come here where their powers will be the weakest. The area they will attempt to fight in will be unfamiliar to them, thus giving me, you, and the other servants the advantage. You should know this strategy for it is simple tactics known to all."

"My mistake, your Highness." the figure said once it was free from the leader's control. "I will not question your authority again."

"Very well, now go fulfill your task and take Witchmon with you. She will finally be of some use and will open The Gate so you can enter Witchelny as well."

The figure bowed down again. "As you wish."

The leader sighed distastefully once its servant was gone. Servants who even questioned their master's orders should be punished by death. However the leader needed this particular servant to do the job. After all, this servant was the strongest out of all of them. Then, once its job was done, the servant could be disposed of easily. After this thought went through the leader's mind, another approached.

"Your death awaits as well, Mai Suzuki...or should I say...well, no matter what your name is. I hope you enjoy your final trip to the Digital World and perhaps be prepared for what awaits you. There's no point savoring an enemy's destruction if they are weak in battle." The leader laugh with delight at picturing its enemy's death.

"But... before I destroy you physically, some mental damage needs to be accomplished."

Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ _of the Sun and Moon_**Warriors** **of the Sun and Moon**Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ _of the Sun and Moon_**Warriors** **of the Sun and Moon**

The Legendary Warriors and their digimon companions looked around them. For many miles all they could see was a barren wasteland. The ground they treaded on was even more empty than the one from the graveyard. The land gave off an unpleasant feeling to the travelers. Even the sky was an unnatural color: dark purple mixed in with black.

"Um, Sorcerymon..." Zoe, the Warrior of Wind hesitated.

Without bothering to turn Sorcerymon asked her what was wrong.

"Is it going to rain anytime soon? I mean the sky doesn't look very friendly."

Sorcerymon shook his head. "That is how the sky is supposed to look like." He then spoke to everyone, "You see nothing around you know but when we finally enter the actual part of Witchelny you will see what I mean by a 'dreaded dangerous destination'.

Everyone remained silent at his remark. Their moods seemed to have shifted at the arrival of Witchelny. Thus, since no one spoke it meant their minds were freely wandering in their own privacy. What was in most of everyone's minds right now was how they managed to arrive to the barren wasteland and what had become of The Gate that brought them here. Mai attempted to ignore the stares she constantly received from the others and tried to maintain her composure. She expected something like this would happen after her magical accomplishment.

_'It wasn't that big of a deal.'_ Mai thought to herself. She didn't want to dwell too much on how she managed to open The Gate the lead all of them to Witchelny. Instead she focused on the mission that layed ahead. Yet she couldn't help but look around her to look for The Gate that brought them here. It was gone. The only thing in sight was the barren land surrounding them.

_'Strange...'_

When it appeared to Sorcerymon that the group was almost out of the outskirts of Witchelny, he stopped and turned to face them. Everyone stopped in time so they would not crash into each other and waited to hear the digimon's words.

The magical digimon spoke. "We are close to where we are headed. I can feel the magic within me move around freely. Now I can disguise each and everyone of you into a type of digimon that lives in Witchelny. As I mentioned before, this is only an illusion. You will only have the _appearance_ of that digimon, not actually become it."

Everyone nodded and Sorcerymon continued. "I wasn't thinking too specifically as to _what_ digimon each individual will become. Therefore I will call out a simple but effective spell and you will take the appearance of the Witchelny digimon that suits you the most. Is everyone ready?"

"Yes." the humans and digimon chorused.

Then, without an instant Sorcerymon chanted an unfamiliar phrase to their ears and raised his crystal scepter. There was a brief bright light and everyone closed their eyes out of instinct.

"You can open your eyes now." they heard Sorcerymon's voice and followed his words. The first thing they saw was a frozen pool of water at their feet.

What followed afterwards was surprise. The gogglehead of the group stared at his reflection, like the others. The first thing he noticed was the red, worn out hat on top of his head. There were a few holes with rings in them. A pair of goggles a different shape from the ones he owned rested on the hat. The rest of Takuya's clothing consisted of a firey appearance. He wore a pair of huge red gloves and red boots that almost threw him off balance. Then, Takuya placed his hands on some black straps that held two particular items of importance. The items looked like giant matchsticks and seemed very dangerous. Finally, the last place Takuya looked at in his reflection was his face. He couldn't see his eyes and he was glad of it because the rest of his face looked like a rugged ragdoll.

"What the..." As Takuya spoke he noticed his mouth held loosely together by stitches. The sight was eerie and frightening to him.

"I should have expected this form for you, Legendary Warrior of Flame. That is the appearance of the digimon known as FlameWizardmon. Those matchsticks strapped onto you are actually wands. If they were real, you could perform magic like I can with my staff." Sorcerymon spoke to him.

Takuya could only stare at his reflection in wonder and then he looked at the others' appearance.

The Lonewolf of the group remained silent as ever as he looked into the frozen pool of water and saw what he had become. He noticed that instead of standing on two feet he now crouched on four...paws. Four purple claws extruded from each of them and sunk into the poor soil of the land. Although Kouji was on four legs he stood taller than Takuya/FlameWizardmon. He held the image of his nickname, a ragged looking wolf with several sharp teeth and long snout. Periwinkle stripes of fur accompanied his white fur on his body. Kouji looked into his sharp yellow eyes, somehow feeling pleased on the inside.

Sorcerymon then spoke to Kouji. "And you are Garurumon, Legendary Warrior of Light. You might have an idea as to why you appear as this form."

FlameWizardmon chuckled to himself earning a sharp glance from Garurumon who then growled softly. Afterwards, when the others looked at their reflection in the ice, they were told by Sorcerymon what digimon they were. Tommy had sprouted wings and had the appearance of a dark blue Patamon, also known as Tsukaimon. Zoe was a BlackGatomon, similar in form to a Gatomon except having black fur with violet tufts, bands, and blue gloves with red markings.

"Hey, I can fly!" Tommy/Tsukaimon exclaimed with glee as he flapped his leather-like wings.

"Sorcerymon, I thought we were only supposed to appear like the digimon we turned into. How come Tommy can fly?" Zoe asked Sorcerymon and then on instinct she licked her paw-like gloves.

"The exception for the Warrior of Ice is that Tsukaimon's ability to fly is not an attack. My guess is that it is a loophole in the spell." Sorcerymon replied, ignoring Zoe's akward action.

"Hey, no fair! Why did I become..this?" The Warrior of Thunder exclaimed in disgust as he looked at his reflection. J.P. had transformed into the ghost-like digimon named Bakemon.

"Ugh, that reminds me of the Bakemon back at the mansion." FlameWizardmon muttered. Tsukaimon nodded as he remembered and continued flapping his wings.

Garurumon ignored the commotion and then looked at who he assumed was his twin brother. Kouichi resembled Sorcerymon and slightly FlameWizardmon. However, the exceptions were the colors and the shape of his staff which was a sun.

"You are Wizardmon, kin of FlameWizardmon and I. Wizardmon are known to be shy and kind by nature." Sorcerymon added at the end.

The Legendary Warriors nodded. "That's Kouichi allright." FlameWizardmon grinned.

"I'm guessing that FlameWizardmon are known for being hot-tempered and rash, Sorcerymon?" Kouichi asked innocently as he sideglanced at FlameWizardmon.

"You are correct." There was a hint of amusement in Sorcerymon's tone. FlameWizardmon scowled wondering what he said wrong as the others laughed.

"Sorry for interrupting...but what am I?" Kimiko spoke up as she looked at her reflection and back up at the others.

"Lekismon." Four voices spoke at the same time. Wizardmon and Garurumon looked at each other and nodded. Besides Sorcerymon, the fourth voice spoke again.

"Kouichi-san, Kouji-san and I met many Lekismon at the Hidden Moon Village. They were...pretty eccentric" Mai told her twin sister. She wondered if her twin sister was the same.

"I look like a deranged rabbit." Kimiko mumbled to herself.

Mai didn't hear what she said, since she was still looking at her own reflection. The fox-like face stared back at her with a blue, penetrating gaze. Her brush-like, furry tail swished back and forth on its own accord. Like Kouji, the rest of her body was covered in fur. It was a yellow and white color. The difference was that she stood on two paws while the other two paws were similar to hands. However, she had three 'finger's and wore purple arm length sleeves.

"Amazing, what digimon..." Kimiko began.

"Renamon. I'm a Renamon." Mai interrupted. Sudden distant memories called out to her as she looked at herself and at the others but she kept them locked inside her mind.

Finally, last but certainly not least...

"Why does my head feel hard as a rock Boko...um, whoever you are?" The familiar, humorish voice spoke out except now it sounded like gravel crunching. Neemon examined his stone hand.

"Because you are a rock you idiot. Well at least you don't have a pumpkin for a head with an ax embedded in it. Hmm...I wonder if it would hurt if I actually became this digimon." Bokomon scolded his digimon friend. He carried his book with his other hand.

"Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon." Sorcerymon finished.

"Then let's go." FlameWizardmon spoke.

The group of digimon marched with a determined expression as they entered the actual part of Witchelny.

Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ _of the Sun and Moon_**Warriors** **of the Sun and Moon**Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ _of the Sun and Moon_**Warriors** **of the Sun and Moon**

The minute they spotted the first building, several waves of invisible energy struck at them. Luckily they bounced off the invisible wards Sorcerymon had set. The group tried to count how many waves hit the wards but they lost count. All of them realized that what Sorcerymon forewarned them about Witchelny and its magic was true. The stench of magic was so strong that every one of them could even feel Sorcerymon's own powers radiating like the sun's light.

However, besides the magic that dwelled in the magical land, the appearance of the buildings they passed by was astonishing. No single building seemed to stay still. One minute a building would be on their left side and then next it would appear on their right after walking several feet. They all had a twisted and ghastly appearance almost as if they were optical illusions. Several shivers ran through the travelers (except Sorcerymon for he was used to this) and automatically they huddled together as a giant blob.

"Where...where are the digimon Sorcerymon?" BlackGatomon found herself whispering.

"Inside their homes. It is daytime and all of them don't come out until at least twilight." The digimon replied in a normal voice.

"How do you know its daytime?" All of them asked quietly surprised about this. Everything around them carried a dark appearance and with the sky's gloomy look, the land looked as if the sun never showed its face.

"I just answered your question." Sorcerymon said.

The group continued walking but to the travelers that were in disguise, it seemed as if they never made any progress. If it wasn't for the tense, dark, and mysterious atmosphere, most of them would be out of patience.

Then, "Here it is." Sorcerymon stopped in front of a small house. The only house throughout the many tall buildings.

The magical digimon approached the door and grabbed the knocker that was hanging. It was in the shape of a bronze snake with its sapphire eyes gazing back at him. Sorcerymon took the knocker and tapped on the door twice. The others watched him wait for what he was expecting.

Then, Sorcerymon appeared satisfied and he turned to the others. "When you walk behind me, be very quiet, even in your steps."

As soon as they nodded, Sorcerymon turned the bronze doorknob and gently opened the door. Then, in a few blinks of an eye, Sorcerymon disappeared into the house. The group followed his instructions and stepped in beside him, eager to leave the empty streets.

There was a long hallway and nothing decorated the white walls. Renamon/Mai, acted courageously by closing the door. Silent relief flowed through the others at her action. Then they continued walking after noticing Sorcerymon was nowhere in sight. Panic replaced the relief and the group turned to face each other. They briefly nodded as FlameWizardmon took the lead. His entire body then seemed to glow, the only source of light among them. He was followed by a flying Tsukaimon and then BlackGatomon who could easily be silent with her footing. Bakemon's body rippled as he hovered behind her. Lekismon was also able to be silent in her walking as she came after Bakemon. She looked behind her for a few seconds at Wizardmon who tipped his hat. A small smile appeared on her face before she turned around to follow behind the Warrior of Thunder.

Wizardmon moved to his right, letting Pumpkinmon and a miraculously silent Gatsumon go by. Then, as soon as they passed him he walked after them, not having to look behind him to see if the last two travelers were behind him. He could feel the mental connection he had with them in his mind and smiled to himself as he left them.

_'Thanks a lot Kouichi.'_ Renamon sent a brief thought as he walked away.

She didn't move from her spot, instead looking behind her. _'You can go.'_

_'I don't think that would be possible since I'm like this. Besides...ladies first.'_ Garurumon said simply as he looked at Renamon's face. He felt his heart speed up when he did.

_'Oh, right.'_ Renamon said no more as she silently took her steps forward.

Garurumon didn't move for a few seconds as he tried calming himself. Then he hurried to catch up with the others.

As the group walked through the never ending hallway, they spotted a faint light in front of them. As the seconds ticked by, the light gradually brightened and brightened. Then, as they took their final steps, the group emerged into a large room. At first, none of them could see due to the bright light that surrounded them. However, they could feel the magic that flowed within the room in many directions. They also felt a comfortable warmth that was not in the hallway.

"Well who do we have here?" a childish voice broke the silence in the room.


	33. Snake Princess

I was awake until 2:40 AM to finish this. Plz R&R, etc, etc. I didn't even eat dinner. D: Now its time for bed!

P.S.: I hoped that what I explained in this chapter made any sense whatsoever. Its mostly stuff on what I thought about the Legendary Warriors and such and their elements.

_sama_-a formal version of _san_. It is an honorific that is used when addressing someone with a higher rank than oneself

**Chapter 33: Snake Princess**

The bright light that surrounded the group finally dimmed to where they could see the room's interior.

"Minervamon-sama." Sorcerymon bowed down in front of a recliner.

The figure that sat on the recliner looked down at Sorcerymon and then focused its gaze on the others. It was clad in bronze armor on its arms, torso, and head. The head resembled a snake with its blue stare facing the group. A pair of wings protruded from the helment. Two long blue braids rested on the figure's shoulders and two short ponytails hung from the figure's head in the front. From the waist and below the figure wore a simple tan skirt and on its feet were red shoes.

The group gasped in surprise at the digimon before them. They began to bow down like Sorcerymon when the digimon scoffed.

"Get up Sorcerymon. Don't humble me with your actions. Now tell me who these digimon _really_ are. I know they're not as they appear." The words that came out of the grand digimon's mouth did not fit her child-like voice.

Sorcerymon appeared embarrased and quickly mumbled a few apologies. He then muttered some phrases and the true appearance of the disguised group was now clear to Minervamon. She didn't move an inch as she rested her head on her hand (covered with a black glove). It took a few seconds for the group to figure out that she seemed bored.

"Oh, of course. It is you all. About time all of you arrived. I almost forgot what I was supposed to tell you in the time that I have been waiting."

Lekismon spoke hesitantly, "You are Minervamon, one of the Olympus Twelve?"

Minervamon's response was harsh. "Of course I am you stupid child. What kind of question is that?"

_'Child? She's about our height and sounds more childish than Tommy.'_ BlackGatomon thought to herself.

"And now the Legendary Warrior of Wind insults me!" Minervamon shouted angrily. The atmosphere in the room quickly changed from calm to tense.

"Please Minervamon-sama, control your mood." Sorcerymon tried to calm her down.

"Why should I? That blonde brat insulted me after the dark-haired brat insulted my wisdom with her stupidity!" Minervamon clenched her fist tightly.

"Someone has a problem with their temper." FlameWizardmon said aloud on purpose.

"Oho! Says the Legendary Warrior of Flame who can't even control his own temper!"

"Why you..." FlameWizardmon almost leaped out at Minervamon but he was stopped by Garurumon grabbing onto his clothing with his teeth.

"You're only making things worse idiot." Garurumon growled.

"And you tend to make things better, Warrior of Light? I can tell right away that you and Flamehead get along about as well as oil and water." Minervamon smirked.

Garurumon's silent reply caused Minervamon to frown in frustration. With that, the room was silent once more. For a few minutes. Minervamon became bored once more and spoke to the group.

"So you have traveled far to come and question me about the source of trouble of the Digital World..." Minervamon said.

"That is correct." Renamon decided that if they were to get anywhere without much conflict she would speak for the group. Her idea spread throughout the group within a manner of seconds and a few glances.

"Ah, the Warrior of the Moon silently steps in to speak. Very wise, very wise indeed." Minervamon muttered. She added,"Yes, I am one of the Olympus Twelve as my name gives away. Minervamon is my name but I am also known as the 'Snake Princess'. I can't imagine why..."

Renamon waited patiently for Minervamon to continue. The others were slightly baffled at the way things were turning out. None of them for sure were expecting this when arriving in Witchelny.

Minervamon cleared her throat and spoke again. "Before I explain what you need to know I will answer the question Light, Darkness and the Moon hold in their minds. The council the Olympus Twelve held was over many years ago. Each of us went our own separate ways and have not seen each other in quite awhile. Unfortunately, my wisdom cannot tell me the whereabouts of Dianamon. Whatever happened to her remains a mystery." Within a few brief sentences, Minervamon answered Mai, Kouji and Kouichi's question.

"And now onto a more recent topic of discussion...the disrupted balance of the Digital World and the evil that is causing it." Minervamon's voice grew more serious and became less childish.

The Legendary Warriors that made up the majority of the group listened closely to Minervamon's words. Sorcerymon stepped aside as she suddenly stood up from her seat.

Minervamon's helmet stared specifically at the Legendary Warriors. She clasped her hands behind her back and she stood stock-still. Then she spoke again.

"Luckily I was well prepared for your arrival. I have many strong spells casted about-I'm sure you can tell- that will ward us from unwanted listeners. Let's see where to begin...hmm...perhaps the tale of the Legendary Warriors is a good place to start." Minervamon paused to make sure they were paying attention to her. When they were she continued.

"Six of you have been well informed about the Ten Legendary Warriors by your book friend over here." Minervamon pointed at Pumpkinmon AKA Bokomon. "Each Legendary Warrior represented an element such as fire, wind, earth, etc. In truth, the forms that you take when you go through the process of Spirit Evolving of the Warriors were not the true forms. I suppose as time goes on things change or evolve. The form of the Legendary Warriors is an example. You bear the forms of the Warriors descended from the Ancient Warriors. Anyway, correction, the _Ancient _Warriors rose up to defeat the evil angel Lucemon and sealed him away in the Dark Area. As the six of you know, Lucemon was freed by two Royal Knights and you guys defeated him again before he could travel to the human world and cause more trouble."

"Yes, we know that. Can we move on to the present?" FlameWizardmon's patience was quickly eroding.

"Hold on there Flamehe-Flamey. I'm saying this because Sun and Moon don't know this tale and it ties back in to the present. Idiot." Minervamon scowled for a moment at FlameWizardmon who scowled back.

Then Minervamon went back to speaking. "There's only so much I'm allowed to tell you. The rest you will have to find out on your own. Okay, well here's another truth. There's actually _twelve _Legendary Warriors, not ten...twelve. The thing is that Sun and Moon are kinda special. That's why you can't find any information about them in the book your little friend there is carrying. The stories about them were never recorded for they were long forgotten by most of the digimon. Only certain digimon such as myself remember them for we were there when the events happened. The Legendary Warriors of the Sun and Moon are actually Legendary/Ancient Guardians. They guard the powers of the other Ancient Ten. And now this leads us to even farther back, somewhat close to the beginning of existence. Back to creation."

"The Sun and Moon are obviously not elements. They are celestial objects and such. Back then when the Digital World was new and the many kinds of digimon were created, including the Ancient Warriors, the digital sun and moon(s) were created as well. When the Ancient Ten were battling Lucemon the other two could not help in their battle for they had to stay close to their origin. All they could do was help with the power that the Warriors shared. That day that the battle went on, both the sun and the moon appeared in the sky. Twilight appeared ,remaining so and the two warriors were high up in the Digital World's atmosphere as they watched their companions battle. AncientTaiyoumon was struggling with guarding the power since Lucemon could also control the power of the Sun, but for his own dark conquest. That is why the battle was close. Luckily, AncientTsukimon held her 'ground' and helped out her sibling as well as the other Warriors. Thus they won. However as soon as the battle ended, the two had to return to their origin to maintain the balance."

"Wait, what about Light and Darkness? They're not elements either. At least not like fire, water and so on. Couldn't you call the Warriors of Light and Darkness Guardians as well?" Renamon's curiosity peeked out as she interrupted Minervamon's story.

The Snake Princess didn't seemed disturbed by the question, rather thoughtful. "Hmm..well they are more in between. They're not solid elements but they're definitely there. Light and Darkness are also part of the balance that is held. Light and Darkness are special in their own way as well. See the solid elements hold bonds with one another and the Sun and Moon maintain those bonds. Light and Darkness however can go anyway they went, though they have a specific preferation. Here's an example: We'll start with the Sun. The Sun is a source of a very hot fire, _Flame_. It is also the main source of _Light. _With _Wind_, Flame grows stronger. Flame can destroy _Wood_ and make a mess out of _Earth_ as well." Minervamon added. "I said the elements hold bonds, but I didn't say what kind. Even though fire destroys wood and conflicts with earth, they are still connected. Add a strong wind to earth and you can get a nice sandstorm. And then of course there's _Ice_. If you look at it from another point of view, Ice should be guarded by the Moon for several reasons I will mention in a second. Yet maybe because Ice is the opposite of Flame that is why it is grouped with these elements. Ice is interesting. It can be guarded/helped by the Sun or the Moon." Minervamon made a hissing noise as she said the word ice.

"So that's why when you spirit evolve into Emperor Greymon, Tommy and I cry out our element's name into Flame before." BlackGatomon turned to FlameWizardmon. He nodded hearing her words but also thinking deeply, something that rarely occured.

"Minervamon, what are the connections with the other elements? What about Light and Darkness?" Wizardmon asked.

"I'm getting there." Minervamon replied. "Allright then. The Moon. It reflects the Sun's _Light _therefore it can also guard/help it and show it in the _Darkness_. If you don't know already, the Moon naturally can control the tides of the ocean depending on the time. Gravity is involved in nature but when magic is involved the Moon can control _Water_. If the Sun helped out with Wind then you get Ice, etc, etc. Also, because _Thunder_ tends to have a bit of a dark nature, it is grouped here. Finally, _Steel_. Steel is also interesting and slick. It carries a dark nature as well and hangs out with these elements. That's as much as I can explain about Thunder and Steel before I start confusing all of you."

"And that's why I give my spirit of Thunder to Kouji and Kouichi his spirit of Darkness for him to spirit evolve into MagnaGarurumon." Bakemon added in.

_'I see.'_ Garurumon thought to himself.

"I've been getting closer and closer off topic, but that's basically it about the elements. When Light and Darkness are together they hang out with Moon, and Light hangs out with Sun occasionally. Not much more I can say about that. Now getting off the subject of the Ancient Warriors and onto something else. Lucemon. Yes he was a powerful enemy and he was defeated twice by the Ancient Warriors. However he was the leader of the dark organization so I suppose you could expect that to happen." Minervamon continued.

"Dark organization?" The Legendary Warriors repeated.

Minervamon sighed and spoke. "Lucemon was the ringleader of the Seven Great Demon Lords. They are seven, very powerful Mega digimon representing one of the Seven Deadly Sins. They also have some celestial object that goes with the crests they have. Lucemon's deadly sin was Pride and his celestial object was the sun. Although Darkness hangs out mostly with the Moon even the Sun has its dark moments. Thankfully, Lucemon is now gone. However..."

The digimon took a dramatic pause. Everyone held their breath as they waited for Minervamon's next words.

"However another Great Demon Lord has been awakened."

Silence followed her few words as the meaning of them sunk in. A turning point had reached the travelers and now all they could do was follow the path that approached them.

"W-who?" Lekismon asked nervously.

Minervamon didn't reply immediately. She turned to Sorcerymon who nodded once and muttered some words. When he was done he appeared satisfied and nodded again to her. Minervamon turned back to the group and began finishing her explanation.

"Representing the deadly sin of Lust and holding the celestial object of the Moon, the Demon Lord's name is..._Lilithmon_. She is said to be an Ophanimon who fell from grace the same as Lucemon is said to be a Seraphimon that fell from grace. She is also known as the 'Goddess of Darkness'. By some means Lilithmon was awakened and she like Lucemon had dark plans for the Digital World and the Human World as well. However, unlike Lucemon, Lilithmon was not fed Fractal Code to be revived and she does not want to destroy the Digital World. She wants to rule it as well as the Human World. Your mission is obvious but you must defeat Lilithmon. Lucemon might have been bad and he was the leader of the Demon Lords, but believe it or not, when it comes to dictating or ruling, females are merciless." Minervamon chuckled at the last part.

_'She has a point there.'_ Renamon/Mai spoke in her mind, sharing her thought with Kouichi and Kouji automatically. She couldn't help it.

"So Lilithmon is the one who is disrupting the balance that Seraphimon told us about and creating the fluxes that Sorcerymon explained to us about as well?" BlackGatomon spoke the villain's name with ease.

Minervamon nodded. "Yes, that's her allright." Her explanation dwindled to where there was not much more to say. However she finally added, "She knew the two of you (pointing at Mai and Kimiko) would find your spirits. She wants you to, especially _you_." She pointed at Mai on the final word.

"Why?" Mai asked.

"The Moon's power. Lilithmon is spoiled. She doesn't want to share it and especially not with someone of a good nature. To her, you are considered a rival. Right now she waits for all of you, specifically the Warrior of the Moon, but she waits in the Dark Area where the battle will commence and ends when the winner is declared."

"Well that was a long story." FlameWizardmon figured that Minervamon was finished with what she had to say.

"But we learned many things from it." Renamon spoke with a mysterious tone.

"I gue-"

_Thud_. A loud rumbled echoed throughout the room and the hallway, throughout Minervamon's house. _Thud._

Sorcerymon and Minervamon tensed as they looked up suddenly.

"What's-" FlameWizardmon began but he was shushed by the others.

All of them listened silently and waited. Minervamon and Sorcerymon then moved and looked at the group.

Minervamon spoke, "It's time for you to leave." Her voice was soft this time.

Sorcerymon told them, "An enemy is approaching in this direction and now all of you must go to fulfill your mission. I will stay here with Minervamon and help her."

"Hmmph, I don't need help but very well." Minervamon said to him.

"What? But..." The humans began.

"You must leave Witchelny and return back to the rest of the Digital World. Then the six who fought Lucemon must recover your beast spirits and the other two must find theirs. That will not be enough however. There is still the matter of all of you being able to combine both spirits and fusion spirit evolve. You will do this as you find a way to reach the Dark Area where Lilithmon resides. Together you must combine not ten but the twelve spirits of the Ancient Warriors to defeat Lilithmon. Then your mission is complete. Go, go fulfill your duty!" Minervamon spoke quickly and she quickly disappeared.

She suddenly reappeared with two important items. Her left hand carried a round, pointed shield to defend herself. Then, on her right she carried a very large sword that was her height. A black and white snake design was decorated on the blade.

"Whoa." Tsukaimon finally spoke by himself as he stared in awe at the weapon.

Minervamon grinned. "A child you say? I may appear weak but I am one of the Olympus Twelve! This sword here that appears heavy to you is as light as a kitchen knife in my hand." To prove her point she twirled the sword in her right hand.

"Minervamon-sama, please be careful until the Legendary Warriors and their companions leave. You tend to cause much destruction when you're this eager." Sorcerymon chided her.

"You worry too much!" Minervamon continued grinning.

"Sorcerymon, you fight again for us?" BlackGatomon said.

"It is my duty." Sorcerymon bowed to her and the others. "My job to guide you here is done. Now I fight here just as you will fight Lilithmon to protect the Digital World and your own world. Do not worry about me, focus on the task that lays ahead for all of you. Warrior of the Moon you did it once and now you can do it again. Help your companions back to the rest of the Digital World using your power." The digimon raised his staff and the spell that he had cast to disguise them was gone.

"That is not needed anymore. Now for the final time, _go_!" Sorcerymon pointed to a door that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Instantaneously Takuya took the lead and opened the door. He ran into the hallway followed by the others. This time there was no light to show the path causing them to run into each other several times. Then, just as before, a light appeared at the end of the hallway. The group found themselves on an empty and quiet street once again surrounded by the grotesque-looking buildings.

Mai immediately saw everyone's eyes on her. "Right." She said and she took out her D-tector.

"Execute, Spirit Evolution! Lunemon!" Lunemon looked far behind her, searching for the cause of trouble in Witchelny. She heard something that sounded like a war cry and couldn't help but grin. Then she focused her attention on the others.

"Sorcerymon still kept his wards on us so we should be fine. Now we should head back to the barren wasteland that we appeared in. The Gate is there but I'll have to find it since it's hidden. That's what I'm assuming." Lunemon told them.

"Onward!" Takuya cried out.

Lunemon nodded and pointed in the direction they were supposed to go. She moved behind the others to protect them from any attacks.

Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors of the Sun and Moon_**Warriors of the Sun and Moon**Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ _of the Sun and Moon_**Warriors of the Sun and Moon**

"Are you sure we aren't lost?" Takuya asked Lunemon.

"Positive. The Gate should be around here." Lunemon replied. "Now I just need to make it appear and open it." She appeared nervous to the others.

"You can do it." Kimiko told her with a reassured look.

"Is that so?" An unexpected voice spoke. Everyone turned to where they heard it come from.

Witchmon had returned.

"Damn!" Lunemon swore a little too loudly.

Witchmon cackled. "Did you really think you would get rid of me that easily?" She flew in circles around them as she spoke.

"What do you want now?" Kouji demanded. His plan of distracting Witchmon long enough for Lunemon to open The Gate reached Lunemon's mind.

_'Thank you.'_ she replied back before focusing back on what she had to do.

_'Now what was the words I said for us to get here? If I can remember then I can replace some phrases that will get us out of here.' _Lunemon thought quickly.

"I would like to destroy all of you but I can't, not while under Lilithmon's orders." Witchmon sighed to herself and she stopped circling them. "So your friend is trying to open The Gate huh?"

Lunemon ignored Witchmon as she reached out for the words she would need.

"What's it to you?" Takuya caught on to Kouji's plan and added on to it.

"Hmm...well this isn't any fun. Kuzuhamon is over there battling a digimon from the Olympus Twelve and even Sorcerymon while I'm here...doing nothing. I want to fight too." A frown appeared on Witchmon's face.

_'I call upon the magic deep within my body, embedded within my sould so that it may...'_ Lunemon began.

"I'll fight you." Takuya smirked.

_'Open The Gate of Journey that will help my companions and I...'_

"Hmm...nah." Witchmon began flying farther off, surprising the group.

_'Reach the well reached land...'_

"She's much more interesting." Witchmon looked at Lunemon.

_'Of Data and Code which Spirit flows within.'_

"Baru Luna Gale!" Witchmon cried out at the same time Lunemon's magic was unleashed. A bright light appeared and began getting brighter.

Lunemon couldn't dodge the attack but she didn't have to. The bright light enveloped the Legendary Warriors and their companions. It grew larger and larger, a huge contrast to the gloomy appearance of Witchelny.

All of them heard Witchmon scream as the bright light hit her eyes, momentarily blinding her. They all closed their own eyes to prevent another accident and waited.

This time all of them felt themselves falling, and falling...deeper and deeper into the darkness that replaced the light...and enveloped them.


	34. Fantasies, Ideas, and Stories

Sorry for the lame chapter title. : ( I couldn't think of anything so yeah... So...school is just around the corner for me and these past few weeks I've been busy preparing for it. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to finish part 3 before it starts next week but hey, I got close. This is another one of those transitional chapters where nothing much happens except talking and more talking but I hope it's still okay. (I know I enjoyed writing the first third of it. hehe...you'll see)

-_clears throat_- Ah, well enjoy! R&R without the flaming please.

**Chapter 34: Fantasies, Ideas, and Stories**

Kouji Minamoto opened his eyes and found himself in paradise. He laid on the gentle sand that sparkled from the sun's light. Kouji could hear the sound of waves crashing into each other and a faint chatter in the background. He could smell the bittersweet ocean scent and feel the gentle breeze on his face. It _had_ to be paradise.

The Lonewolf blinked his eyes twice and then found a pair of green eyes looking down at him. They seemed innocent and carefree while at the same time containing a deep wisdom within. The eyes then seemed less closer to him and he could make out a nose and lips. A few strands of dark hair blew in the wind, covering one of the eyes. Kouji lifted his hand and grabbed a loose strand, placing it behind an ear. The face that appeared blank at first changed. There was now a bright smile. A clear peal of soft and sweet laughter escaped her mouth.

Before he knew it, Kouji found himself smiling and laughing along with her. How couldn't he? He had never felt this carefree and relaxed since...

"Kouji." She interrupted his thought with her soft voice, the smile still clear on her face.

"Mmm?"

"Kouji." Her voice was a bit louder now. Kouji nodded and waited to see what she would say, his laughing toning down to a few chuckles.

"**Kouji!**"She shouted and in that instant the paradise began fading away. She no longer had a smile on her face and her eyes didn't appear carefree.

Kouji stopped chuckling as he looked at her worried expression. He was about to ask what was wrong when the dream ended and he found himself being shaken.

"_MINAMOTO!_ KOUJI! **WAKE** UP!" This time Kouji really opened his eyes and saw that his face was a few inches away from another person's. His facial expression froze.

Mai appeared frustrated as she had her hands on Kouji's shoulders and continually shook him. She felt stupid doing it but he didn't want to wake up! If they were somewhere else besides the beach with hundreds of waves preparing to land and soak them with salty water she would have waited until he woke up. Then, after a few minutes of shaking him Mai saw he was awake and staring at her.

"Ah." she said and froze with her hands on his shoulders. Her breathing slowed while her heart sped up.

What followed next was the longest akward moment for both of them. Neither one of them moved and the two looked at each other's faces. The trance was broken when a hectic wave landed on both of them, soaking them in the process. Mai quickly let go of Kouji to wipe the water off her face and spit out some that had entered her mouth. Kouji did the same. When they finished both of them stood up at the same time.

"Um...you didn't want to wake up." Mai muttered as she looked away from the Lonewolf's penetrating gaze, able to breath normally once more. "Just to let you know...um, you were _smiling_ in your sleep." She whispered to emphasize the word in a different manner and then finally gathered the courage to look at him. Of course, he was still staring at her and her heart would not slow down.

Kouji sideglanced when Mai turned to meet his gaze. "Oh." When he looked at something else besides Mai his mind began functioning properly again and he realized what was missing from the scenario.

"Where are the others?" He asked Mai, still looking away from her.

Mai perked up at his question. "I saw Takuya over there by the rocks. He's still sleeping and talking in it." She added with a tiny smirk at the end.

True to her word, Kouji looked behind him to where she pointed and saw the gogglehead at ease as his head rested on a smooth rock. He startled Mai by walking to where sleeping warrior was. Mai silently followed behind him, her gaze at her sneakers that were wet and covered with some sand. She shivered as the wind blew by, her clothes still very much wet.

As they approached Takuya, both of them could hear a strange noise coming from where he was. It didn't take long for them to figure out Takuya was snoring. _Loudly_.

"Geez." Mai said softly.

"We might as well wake him up. Who knows what else he does in his sleep?" Kouji said aloud for her benefit and looked back at Mai.

Her face then became slightly red and she didn't meet his eyes when he looked at her. Mai muttered something Kouji couldn't hear and walked past him to where Takuya was. The action left him wondering...what else did _he_ do while he was fantasizing?

_'And since when do I fantasize?'_

"Takuya." Mai stayed standing up as she called his name. She didn't want another strange incident to happen.

"That's not how you do it." Kouji said to her and approached the sleeper. "_Idiot_, Izumi is in danger!"

Instantly, Takuya sat up surprising Mai and he spoke. "Whatsgoingon...Izumi!"

"Takuya!" Mai shouted at him and Takuya snapped out of his drowsiness.

"Eh?" he said and found two annoyed expressions looking down at him. Drops of water from their clothes landed on his face as well.

"Nice, gogglehead."

Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ _of the Sun and Moon_**Warriors of the Sun and Moon**Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors of the Sun and Moon_**Warriors** **of the Sun and Moon**

The Warrior of Darkness opened his eyes and found himself in the shadows. He spotted two other shapes lying on the ground, sleeping. Kouichi tensed. No matter which way he turned everything around him was covered by darkness. He quickly scrambled to his feet and went to where the two shapes were. The two girls slept very quietly. Kouichi sighed with relief. They appeared to be safe from harm.

_'If only there was some light to see.'_ Kouichi thought.

As if responding to his mind, Kouichi felt his D-tector tremble and a beam of light shot out from his pocket. He took it out and moved it around like a flashlight. He spotted some wood and decided on building a fire.

_'After all, who knows how long my D-tector will stay like this.'_ He picked up the loose wood and gathered it in a pile close to where the sleeping girls rested, but not too close so they wouldn't wake up to find themselves on fire.

Once Kouichi was done gathering the wood, he searched closely on the ground for something to light the fire. Within a few minutes a few sparks fell on the ground and flames sprouted from the wood, consuming it at the same time. The flames illuminated the sleeping faces of Zoe and Kimiko who were lost in their own dreams.

_'This place feels very familiar. I know for sure that I've been here before, but when? And how?' _The thoughts swarmed inside Kouichi's mind as he stared deep into the flames of the fire.

"Eh...Kouichi-san?" A gentle voice broke through his thoughts. Kouichi turned to see Kimiko wake up and stretch her arms.

"Good, you're awake." Kouichi smiled.

Kimiko nodded and smiled back. Then she realized the situation they were in. Her expression faded as she looked at her surroundings.

"W-where are we?" Kimiko said nervously.

"I can't be sure but this place seems very familiar. It's possible we landed on the Dark Continent." Kouichi's smile turned into a grimace, his eyes staring off into space.

"Dark Continent?" Kimiko whispered. Kouichi nodded and as he turned to face her again he noticed that her face become slightly paler.

"Kimiko-san...are you okay?" Kouichi whispered to her.

Kimiko began to nod but then she stopped and looked at him. Her eyes were full of fear.

"Not really." she admitted.

"What's wrong?" Kouichi was always ready to help even during desperate times.

"I don't like the dark." Kimiko's gaze veered off to the fire and she bit her lip after responding.

"Ah." Kouichi nodded, understanding. Then he added, "Well...there's nothing really to fear of the dark itself."

Kimiko looked back at Kouichi with a puzzled expression on her face. "What do you mean?"

"I think what people truly fear when they say 'I'm afraid of the dark' is what lies in it. People are always unsure of what they might find in the shadows and are afraid it might be something unpleasant. Darkness isn't really something to be scared of. Without darkness you couldn't see the moon or the stars shining in the night sky." Both of them looked up at the same time to see nothing but the trees covering the sky.

"Well if the trees weren't as tall we might be able to see the sky." Kouichi added.

"I see what you mean by that but I'm still afraid." Kimiko hung her head down like a small child sharing a secret.

"It's allright. To tell you the truth, even sometimes the dark bothers me. It can be calming at some times but I always wish there was even a tiny bit of light just to be on the safe side." He hoped Kimiko understood his vague statement.

She nodded, remembering her saying something similar to that just before she found her spirit and defeated the Darkness that was trying to take over her.

"You know I think it's kinda funny. Not in a laughing kind of way, but ironic. You seem so lighthearted and cheerful but you're the Warrior of Darkness. Whereas your brother Kouji always seems so serious and mysterious but he's the Warrior of Light. Ever thought about that?" Kimiko asked him.

Kouichi laughed softly. "Yeah, I have. It is ironic but I have an opinion about it. Do you want to hear?"

Kimiko stood up and walked over to where Kouichi sat. She sat a feet away from him and nodded.

"Well...although my brother always acts serious and mysterious and he seems like a bad person, he really isn't. I know that he can be cheerful and happy, he's just too embarassed to show it. He hides the Light part of him inside himself." Kouichi told her.

"So are you a bad person on the inside?" Kimiko asked him.

"Well I wouldn't say that." Kouichi grinned.

Kimiko smiled back. "Then what?"

Kouichi spoke, "Well, I don't like seeing people upset, sad, or any of those negative feelings. That's why I try to act cheerful most of the time. Don't ask me why, but most people often act more like that after I do. However, even I have to be serious sometimes if it's about something important."

"I see." Kimiko said softly.

Both of them remained silent for awhile and looked into the flickering flames of the fire.

Then, "I think my sister, Mai, is the same way. Like your brother. I don't mean that she always has a serious expression on her face but...I don't think she's showed true happiness if you get what I mean." Kimiko interrupted the silence.

"I understand. Yes, Mai and my brother are very similar in several ways..." Kouichi's voice trailed off.

Kimiko took her eyes off the fire and glanced at Kouichi's face. It was as he was deciding what expression he should use for what he was thinking. "Kouichi?"

"Eh?" Kouichi was distracted from his thoughts and he turned to look at Kimiko.

"I hope I'm not being rude in asking, but what were you thinking just now?"

Kouichi didn't reply immediately to Kimiko's question, instead looking at her with penetrating gaze. He wondered if he should tell Kimiko what was on his mind.

_'Well, she is Mai's twin sister. Even though they recently found each other she probably cares the same way about Mai as I do about Kouji. Maybe she can help...'_

"Kouichi-k-kun." Kimiko paused and waited for Kouichi's approval.

"Sorry about that, I was thinking about how to reply about my thinking." A crooked smile appeared on his lips and he nodded at Kimiko. Then, he took a deep breath and let it out.

"Well, Mai and my brother are alike in many ways. They think deeply about certain things and seem to come to a decision in a wise manner. Now moving back to my brother for a few seconds. The others...Takuya especially told me about Kouji's personality when they met him in the Digital World. He wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world but that changed slightly when he found out that I was his brother I supposed. However, even after that he is still somewhat dark and distant. In the few years since we met, I've been trying to find out why he's like that." The Warrior of Darkness began explaining his simple thought.

"And did you figure it out now?" Kimiko pressed on.

"I think so, and well it's so simple that I laugh but at the same time it's complicated." Kouichi grinned. "Now moving on to Mai..."

"Wait, you don't have to continue explaining." A wide smile appeared on Kimiko's lips. She knew she shouldn't laugh but she couldn't help it. Of course! It was so obvious! She noticed it of course but didn't really think much of it due to the fact of the danger all of them were facing. Kimiko thought it was funny that an event such as this would happen in a disastrous situation.

"You understand what I'm trying to say?" Kouichi asked. She simply nodded and reply but raised an eyebrow when she saw Kouichi sigh.

"What is it?"

Kouichi shook his head. "It's just...are both of them that _blind_ about their feelings? I bet even Takuya noticed it before they did. I could have told Mai back when we were at the deserted village before we left through The Gate to Witchelny about Kouji's feelings...but-"

"She should find out herself." Kimiko finished his sentence. "So when did you find out?" she asked Kouichi.

"Hmm," Kouichi pondered at the thought. "I guess...it was when we were at the Hidden Moon Village. They might have noticed I was watching but I could tell they were always sharing thoughts to each other that were hidden from the digimon and myself. Then again, maybe even before we arrived at the Digital World...who knows? What about you, Kimiko?"

"Woman's intuition." Kimiko simply replied with a sign of her pointing at her head with her index finger.

Kouichi laughed. "Nice."

The two of them then remained silent for quite some time. Their thoughts didn't stray to far from the conversation they just had.

Then,"I hope they do realize it soon though, especially Kouji. I feel that he's still separating himself from everyone, and that thought is lonely itself. Maybe someone similar to him like Mai will help him stray off that Lonewolf path, even just once."

"You sound like you're trying to play Matchmaker, Kouichi-kun." Kimiko giggled. "But...that's very kind of you to think of trying to help your brother and my sister."

"Thank you." Another smile lit up on Kouichi's face. Kimiko smiled back in return.

_'I wonder if I could help Mai too? She is my sister after all...'_

Suddenly, a sound interrupted their chatter and facial expressions. Both Kouichi and Kimiko turned in unison at the origin of the sound. They saw a shape that rested behind the fire sit up.

"Eh? Kouichi...Kimiko...where am I?" Zoe's tired voice spoke up.

Two crooked smiles lit up in response as their companion awoke and the same thought appeared in their minds. Telling Zoe wouldn't hurt. She would probably be eager to join their now newly formed Matchmaker team.

Why not?

Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ _of the Sun and_ _Moon_**Warriors** **of the Sun and Moon**Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors of the Sun and_ _**Moon**_**Warriors of the Sun and Moon**

"We're lost aren't we?" a young man's voice rang clearly in the greenery. Tommy Himi's shoulder slumped as he stopped walking and turned to look at his older companion.

"If you keep thinking like that we'll get nowhere." J.P. Shibayama sighed. Then he turned to look down at one of their digimon friends to ask for help.

"J.P's right about that but as I already told all of you that this doesn't have any maps of the Digital World. Only stories." Bokomon indicated to the green book he held.

"Stories about what?" The other digimon companion spoke at the wrong time.

"Please tell me you don't seriously mean that. Stories of the Legendary Warriors and such you idiot!" Bokomon couldn't restrain himself any longer and he quickly grabbed an end of Neemon's red leggings and pulled far back. A distinct snap was heard as Bokomon let go of the waistband and it hit Neemon's bottom.

"Er..." The Warriors of the Ice and Thunder frowned in embarassment at the action.

"Oh!" Tommy's expression suddenly changed to curiosity. "Speaking of stories...hey Bokomon did you ever write the story about us and how we saved the Digital World from Lucemon?"

"I'm glad you asked. Yes, I did. The pages that contain it were sewed at the end of the book. Do you want to see?" Bokomon asked the two humans.

Momentarily distracted from the situation they were in, J.P. and Tommy nodded eagerly. Bokomon flipped the pages of his book to where the story started and handed it to them.

"Hey, don't forget I helped with the pictures!" Neemon's voice shouted as he recovered from his pain.

Sweatdrops appeared in J.P. and Tommy's expressions as they saw the first of Neemon's crude drawings. It was of the six of them (plus Bokomon and Neemon) standing in front of a Trailmon and their human spirits standing beside them. Their names and spirit's names were written below the drawing in a fairly written kanji.

"Digimon Frontier...is that the title Bokomon?" Tommy asked.

Bokomon nodded, "Yes. _Digimon_ because of well ,the digimon and _Frontier _standing for a new frontier that has arrived from the revival of the Legendary Warriors."

"Hmm...well this is another adventure we are having. Will you write a story about this one?" J.P. inquired.

"That's a good question. Most likely. Events such as this should be recorded for others to read and so they will not be forgotten from history. Plus, Mai-chan and Kimiko-chan should be added to the story too! The part about the Legendary Guardians seems very important. I wonder how those two will act in protecting the Digital World..." Bokomon began speaking more to himself than the others.

"I think that with Mai-chan and Kimi-chan we'll do even better against Lili-the new Demon Lord than when we did against Lucemon." Tommy avoided saying the female Demon Lord's name as if she would appear if he did.

"They do seem pretty strong. Maybe even stronger than our beast spirits." Tommy was surprised to suddenly hear J.P. speak so seriously.

"Do you really think that?"

J.P. nodded. "Think about it yourself. Only Mai's spirit could open The Gate to Witchelny and bring us back, even if we did end up separated." he added at the end.

"You're right. Oh, and remember Kimiko-chan and when she spirit evolved into Solemon to defeat Sanguemon? Her attacks were pretty strong as well." The younger Legendary Warrior commented.

"Yep. If those were only their human spirits...think about what their beast spirits could do..." J.P. said before his voice trailed off. A certain thought had come to mind.

"I wonder...will their beast spirits be like Zoe's or..." Tommy gulped as the memory of another Legendary Warrior's beast spirit appeared in his head.

"You mean like Calmaramon? Ugh...I hope not." J.P. grimaced as he tried to shake the idea off.

"I wonder what Zoe would say if she heard you say that." Bokomon interrupted their thoughts.

"Whoa, hey there, you don't have to tell her that Bokomon. Why don't we just stop talking about it and figure out how to reunite with the others?" J.P. said nervously.

"Good idea." Tommy agreed.

"So where are we again?" Neemon's voice spoke up.


	35. Castaways and Captives

Hooray for another update. Somehow I was able to extract some ideas for this chapter from the depths of my mind. I am thankful for this Thanksgiving Break. ;D Plz R No Flaming of course

**Disclaimer**: I wish I was thankful for owning Digimon but I **don't** own it so I can't be thankful for something I don't own. I am thankful that I got into it however. Yesh.

**Chapter 35: Castaways and Captives**

Takuya Kanbara sighed in frustration and kicked at a small rock that was at his feet.

"Argh, I can't believe we're split up again!" he yelled aloud. Kouji and Mai could see how tightly he clenched his fists as he did so.

Kouji said, "Calm down Takuya. Ranting like that isn't going to help us reunite with the others."

"Why should I? If-if-if it wasn't for Mai messing up on her chant thingie, we wouldn't be in this situation. Here we are probably stuck on an island since there's tons of water everywhere and the others are well, somewhere else!" At that moment Takuya's head snapped and he turned to glare at Mai.

Mai flinched, surprised by the sudden turn of Takuya's emotion and quickly looked down at her feet. "I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't know know this would happen!" She like Takuya also clenched her fists but not in anger or frustration.

Kouji glanced at Mai and then looked at Takuya. He felt a small fire inside himself grow larger suddenly.

"Takuya, stop it. Don't be mad at Mai like that. Just calm down." However, Kouji had trouble calming himself down as he felt the fire within in trying to burst itself free. He was puzzled at this sudden feeling that he felt.

"**Shut up**!" Takuya growled and unexpectedly charged at Kouji. Luckily for Kouji, he was well prepared in self-defense.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?! Get off me idiot!" Kouji easily blocked Takuya's weak attacks. He grabbed his arms and held them tightly behind Takuya's back, leaving him defenseless.

"Agh, Let go of me!" Takuya struggled to free himself from the Lonewolf's hold.

"Stop it! Stop it both of you!" A shout distracted the two. Kouji and Takuya turned to see the expression on Mai's face, but they couldn't determine what it was.

"Let's just...let's just find something to eat and a place besides here, a place where we can sit down and talk about this peacefully." Mai said slowly, something trying to come out her throat. She didn't appear to be mad or upset, rather somewhere in between.

Kouji nodded and looked at Takuya who finally seemed to calm down.

"Fine." Takuya's body slumped as he gave up.

_Several hours later..._

"Um, Mai?" Takuya hesitated.

Mai's back faced Takuya and Kouji who were eating fish they had caught from the ocean, after failing to find any food that grew in the land on the island. However, they made up for that first failure in finding a cave on the opposite side of which was indeed an island as Takuya had said. The gogglehead had automatically volunteered in building a fire to partially apologize for his hectic behaviour earlier. Kouji told them he would catch their dinner, leaving Mai to do nothing. She tried protesting but the two boys wouldn't let her have her way. After her startling reaction from Takuya's behaviour, they wanted her to do nothing but relax and not do any work.

"Yes?" Mai didn't leave her position, as she sat on the stone floor, not eating anything. She told the two boys her dislike of fish, reassuring them she didn't want to eat anything in the end.

"I'm sorry for uh, yelling at you earlier and blaming you for what happened. I don't know what happened to me...I just..." Takuya trailed off.

"It's fine." She replied shortly.

Neither one of them spoke afterwards and Takuya figured that he was forgiven. He couldn't help but notice that Kouji was giving him a wide berth, even more than for his usual self. However, Takuya also noticed that he had moved closer to where Mai was sitting. The gogglehead made a note of it for later purposes but didn't say anything.

Then, "So we are stuck on an island that we don't know where it is in the Digital World and we have to find a way to get off it." Takuya commented.

Kouji and Mai didn't reply. The gogglehead sighed again, this time passively and he scratched his head with his right hand, indicating that he was trying to think. But, no ideas came to mind.

"You guys have any ideas?" He asked.

Again, he received no response. Takuya frowned and mumbled something underneath his breath.

"So are you two going to say anything? I thought we were supposed to talk and find a solution to our problem." Takuya gritted through his teeth when Kouji and Mai still hadn't replied. He was normally not a very patient person and didn't like it when no one talked for a certain amount of time.

"The last time we were stuck on an island in the Digital World, how did we get off? That's where I would start thinking." Kouji finally spoke up.

"Uh well, we built a raft and after going through some trouble we were able to sail away and get somewhere." Takuya replied.

"We met the Toucanmon on that island, and then the Gomamon. So far we haven't found any other digimon on this island that can tell us if there's any nearby land, and if there is, how far it is from here."

"Oh yeah, I remember them. Well, at least this time we don't have evil and stupid digimon like the Toucanmon trying to take our spirits!" Takuya tried lightening up the tense atmosphere in the cave by changing the subject slightly.

"Our spirits were taken away that time because we were careless. If we hadn't taken a break from getting to where we were supposed to go, then the Toucanmon wouldn't have ended up stolen them." Kouji reminded Takuya.

Takuya nodded and said, "Yeah, but then maybe Zoe wouldn't have had to help us, and she wouldn't have found her beast spirit."

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Wait...her beast spirit?" Surprising them again, Mai spoke up. This time however it was softer and gentler.

"That's right, we told you about our adventure in the Digital World, but we kinda went through it fast. Do you have a question about beast spirits or something like that?" Takuya tried being polite again to Mai, not wanting Kouji to get back at him or for Mai to be how she was earlier.

"Yeah...how? I mean, I remember Kouji telling me that Zoe was the only one who could control her beast spirit before you found Kouichi." Mai tried explaining the questions she had in mind.

"He did?" Takuya frowned as he looked at Kouji, wondering what Kouji said about him and his failure at controlling BurningGreymon's spirit.

Mai nodded and Takuya said,"Oh, well yeah. Afterwards, Zoe kept reminding us about that. I guess because I got on to her about how maybe because she was a girl, she would have trouble controlling her beast spirit. Stuff like that."

Takuya quickly scolded himself as he saw Mai frown at him.

"That's rather sexist." She said, not embarrassed at all for using the term, even though it sounded strange. However, she noticed Takuya's face turn red and Kouji's expression turn blank quickly. "What? It is...I mean, if I was Zoe and was in that situation, I would have been annoyed at some boy telling me that. I guess you regreted thinking that or in Takuya's case, telling Zoe that, once she controlled her beast spirit and defeated the enemy."

"I bet you would have." Takuya muttered under his breath.

"Speaking of beast spirits, you and Kimiko have to find yours. Minervamon told us that and that we have to combine our spirits and fusion spirit evolve." Kouji paused and then continued. "That probably means the others will finally be able to fusion evolve since the furthest they ever reached their spirit evolution was beast. Now all Takuya and I have to do is find our beast spirits and remember how to fusion evolve."

"Yeah...but maybe we should find your beast spirit first." Takuya said.

"Why?" Mai said with a puzzled look.

"No special reason." Takuya tried shrugging off the looks he received from Mai and Kouji.

Kouji scoffed. "He probably wants to see what your beast spirit looks like and if you can control it."

"Hey!" Takuya frowned at Kouji.

Mai couldn't resist the smirk that appeared on her face. "Well I hope you'll be prepared to be disappointed when I can control my beast spirit on my first try like Zoe. Something tells me that you still won't let go the simple fact that females can be strong as males."

"That sounds like a bet to me." Takuya smirked back, sensing the challenge that approached.

"If you want to think of it that way, but I'm not agreeing to it." Mai stayed silent for a bit after she said that.

"How about all of us go to sleep now? Then tommorow we can figure out completely how to leave this island and find the others, and then think about how to find beast spirits and all of that." Kouji said.

"You can go to sleep if you want. I want to ask Mai some questions." Takuya still had the smirk on his face.

"Questions? What kind of questions?" Mai raised an eyebrow, already wary of the gogglehead.

Takuya took a deep breath and then let it out. "Well, so far since we've arrived in the Digital World and traveled around, we still don't know much about you. Your sister as well, but you said you've been here before, right?"

"Yes, I have."

"So...how? When?" Takuya began but was stopped by Mai cutting him off.

"That's none of your business and I don't really feel like sharing that." Mai said rather coldly.

"Hmph, you sound like Kouji when you say it that way." Takuya grumbled. Mai blinked and she quickly sideglanced to look at the Lonewolf who had frowned.

The Warrior of Flame continued, "Fine, you don't have to tell us about your adventures here in the Digital World then. How about back at home? You transferred to our school right? Where from?"

"From America." Mai replied to this question.

"That's cool. Well you seem to know Japanese pretty well so you must have been to Japan before, right?"

Mai muttered, "Yeah, that's right." She began feeling uncomfortable at the sudden questioning. It felt as if she was being inquired on a murder, except the tone of Takuya's voice was much lighter.

However, she didn't like being put on the spot. Mai noticed that Kouji was listening to Takuya and her conversation, but he pretended not to. For some reason, this made her feel happy.

Takuya continued with his questioning, moving on to the things she liked to do, things she hated, favorite foods, colors, etc, etc. He felt satisfied that Mai seemed more willing to reply to his questions than Kouji had when Takuya asked him on their previous trip to the Digital World.

_'At some times she can be like Kouji but she's still different at other times.' _Takuya thought to himself.

Then, they had arrived on a certain subject that both of them seemed to enjoy. Music.

"Whoa, you play guitar? Are you good at it?" Takuya grinned. He was surprised by this fact about Mai. But then again, he could picture her playing such an instrument. Also, like Mai had earlier, Takuya noticed that Kouji was listening to their conversation although he didn't speak.

"I guess, I don't know. Other people say I am but I don't really think I'm good at it." Mai shrugged.

Takuya rolled his eyes. "You're as modest as Kouichi."

"Well what about you? I mean, sometime before Kouichi told me that he played bass, Kouji played guitar, and you drums. He said that you were in a band, correct?" Mai asked some questions this time. She couldn't help being curious. Music-related stuff always got to her.

"Yeah...I guess. We're still kind of a 'garage band.' Kinda lame since we also don't have a name yet. Although we did have a few gigs." Takuya sighed as he remembered this.

"Why?"

The gogglehead scratched his head again, "We never got around to it. Although it would be amazing if we could be a real band that records and all of that, we're not even close."

"Maybe it's because we're bad at organization. At least that's what Kouichi said." Kouji interrupted their conversation and spoke lazily.

"I see. So, what inspired all of you to start it?" Mai asked.

Takuya shrugged. "We just felt like doing it. It gave us an excuse to hang out also."

"Well yes that, but I mean, any musical inspirations?" Mai regreted asking that question as soon as Takuya sat up straight.

Kouji only added to her regret when he spoke in an annoyed tone, "Here he goes again..."

"Well there's a lot of bands I listen to but my top one is..._Icefire_!" Takuya beamed. At the same time, every inch of Mai's body and her mind froze. Kouji glanced at her with an interested expression.

"Are you sure it's the band that inspired you or a certain singer from the band?" Kouji slyly asked.

"Sh-shut up! Besides I know that you like Namine too." Takuya scowled.

_'Wonderful, just wonderful.' _Mai thought to herself, trying to unfreeze her body after her mind.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kouji denied.

Finally, Mai gathered the courage to ask, "What's so great about the band _Icefire_ and the singer Namine?"

Takuya sputtered at Mai and even Kouji looked at her in shock.

"You're kidding right? They're only like the greatest band on Earth. Of course I could go on about why they are..." Takuya began.

Mai shook her head."You don't have to. I've heard of them and I guess they're decent. Well they're music is. I don't really come onto terms with Namine the singer."

"What do you mean?" Takuya asked puzzled.

Mai sighed. "Although she is talented, I suppose, she seems kinda shallow to me. That's just my opinion."

"Shallow?" Takuya and Kouji spoke in unison, startled by Mai's critique. It was the first time they had ever heard someone say something like that.

"Yeah. Don't get mad, that's just what I think." She smiled crookedly.

"Sure, whatever." Takuya muttered. He then added, "So what kind of bands are you into?"

The Warrior of the Moon shrugged, "Different kinds. I listen to a variety of music although I prefer alternative or rock. Too many too list."

Then, both Takuya and Mai turned to look at Kouji in unison, expecting him to contribute to their conversation.

"Ditto." he shrugged and said no more on the subject.

Mai thought Takuya had exhausted his questioning but her thoughts weren't on the right path at the moment.

"So any particular reason why you moved to Japan? Your dad got a transfer from work? Mom interested in the culture, school stuff, etc?" He noticed Mai stiffen immediately.

"Mai?"

She shook her head as if to clear off some thoughts. She slowly replied, "Not really. I needed somewhere to go." The second part of her reply was said softly.

"What does that mean?"

Kouji, who continued listening to their conversation, could tell there was something Mai didn't want to discuss.

"It means she doesn't want to talk about it, idiot." Kouji said to Takuya, startling him.

"Oh, a personal problem." Takuya muttered.

"Kinda..." Mai trailed off. She noticed that Kouji was looking at her with another one of his fathomless expressions. "Well I don't mind talking about it..."

Takuya and then Kouji looked at her, waiting for her to answer. Mai felt worse than an idiot. She knew she shouldn't expect any good reaction from the two boys but suddenly, she felt like talking about _that _particular problem. For some reason it had popped again into her mind and continued haunting her. Mai thought she had gotten rid of the fear that accompanied but she was wrong.

The Warrior of the Moon took a deep breath and then let it out. Then she began.

"Well as you know by now I have a twin sister. Whichever parent or parents she has are my real parents. I don't actually have guardians or adopted parents at the moment because I sorta...left them."

"Wha-" Takuya was quickly cut off by Kouji who nodded for Mai to continued. This made her feel a bit relieved.

"I'll tell you what I want you to hear so please don't ask any revealing questions. Just listen, please." Mai cleared her throat almost as if she was preparing to give a three minute speech. "There was a time when I lived with a family. They even had a son who was some amount of years older than me. He was kind of like a big brother to me and was actually the one who found me when I was, _alone_. However, life ends in one way or another. He died in a car accident and I didn't want to burden his family with my presence so I ran away. I've kinda been living on my own since then. How, that's my business."

"What's troubling you then?" Kouji asked with a curious intent.

Mai frowned. "I have dreams where Hiroshi, my deceased adoptive brother, appears. The thing is, I don't know what they mean or why I'm having them. I thought the thought that he was dead didn't bother me anymore but...no such luck. I guess I came back to Japan to reminisce about the days in the past, maybe. And I guess that's it." She concluded in just a few short minutes.

She almost jumped up when she felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced up to see Kouji. His expression was as blank as ever but Mai thought she detected a hint of understanding in it. She tried not to think too much about his presence being disturbingly close to her and simply focused on the fire that was still burning in the cave.

Takuya thought about what Mai had just told them and nodded, without referring to what he was nodding to. He noticed when Kouji went to her and placed a shoulder on her hand but didn't comment on it.

Some things were just better left silent.

Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ of the Sun and _Moon_**Warriors** **of the Sun and Moon**Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ of the Sun and _Moon_Warriors **of** **the Sun and Moon**

_'I really hope we find a way off this island.'_ Mai Suzuki thought as she woke up from her sleep. She was unsurprised to see Takuya and Kouji still asleep.

Not wanting to wait until they woke up, Mai decided to go find some breakfast for the three of them.

_'And one that doesn't involve seafood. Yuck.'_

She left the cave silently and began her long trek around and throughout the island. Hours later, or maybe minutes, as Mai expected there was nothing edible on the island.

"Not even some coconuts? Geez!" Mai complained to herself as she wandered through the dense tropical jungle. As she walked past trees and more trees she was puzzled that she hadn't heard any sounds on the island other than the sound of waves crashing.

_'You'd think there would be some digimon on here but I guess not.'_ Mai could feel her luck running short.

Mai continued walking, walking, and some more walking when exhaustion reached her. She fell back on some soft ground she had found and decided to take a break, letting her thoughts roam around freely. She was glad she was alone at the moment so she could make a decision on another problem that was troubling her.

At least she had some kind of idea of what she was dealing with. Not to mention that she had choices as well. Perfect, right?

_'Okay...it is blatantly obvious to the world, Digiworld in this instance, that I l-love Mr. What's-his-face-Minamoto. Now what the heck am I going to do about it?' _Mai first thought and she turned to one side to keep the bright sun out of her face.

She then went onto her list of choices. _'A: I tell him how I feel and let things flow from there. Hah! Yeah, right. B: Ignore my feelings for him and focus on a more important task in front of me, saving two worlds from the hands of evil. Hmm...that sounds easier said than done but it's better than choice A. And now choice C: Get a therapist. Wonderful.'_

Everything seemed to be going fine...

"_Sigh_. I've battled evil digimon too many times to count, dealed with death and loneliness and yet my most difficult problem has to do with a _boy_. So much for my self-esteem." Mai said her thoughts aloud since they were getting too muddled up in her head.

Mai sighed again and stood up. Her brief self-discussion time was up. Maybe she would have another chance to think about it later. Hoping she remembered the way she came, Mai wandered back into the tropical jungle, heading back to the cave.

Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ of the Sun and _Moon_**Warriors** **of the Sun and Moon**Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ of the Sun and _Moon_Warriors **of** **the Sun and Moon**

_Gone_. That one word echoed in her mind as she stared at the empty stone floor of the cave. The fire was out and all that remained were black bits of the firewood Takuya had collected. There was no other evidence that indicated where the two teenage boys went.

_'Maybe they're looking for me. I guess I shouldn't have left on my own. They're probably complaining about finding me now.' _A weak smile appeared on her face. Luckily there was no one there to see it. Then she remembered not to give up so easily.

She had a way of finding them and all she needed was to picture his impenetrable face and herself poking at his mind for attention. Mai sat down on the stone floor and leaned back against the cave wall, trying to relax.

_'It's no big deal. I should be natural at this by now.'_ Mai took some slow deep breaths and then closed her eyes.

It was like searching for a micro-sized point on a large and wide space. Mai scanned everywhere for the silver pinprick that was Kouji's mind. She even extended the tendrils of her mind as far as she could and began calling out his name.

_'Kouji, Kouji where are you?!'_ She received no response after calling his name for the tenth time.

Mai came upon three conclusions after her search. One: He was too far away to be in range of her scanning so he couldn't reply. Two: Something had happened that prevented him from contacting her back. Three: He was ignoring her. She almost laughed at the third conclusion. Almost, but then she started feeling frantic.

What if he _was_ ignoring her? There was a possibility that he felt pissed for her leaving again without saying anything and didn't want to talk to her now. Mai shook her head to herself. No, he wouldn't get that mad over something like that...

Then what would be his reason for ignoring her? As Mai thought more and more about it she realized she felt giddy, but it was a strange sort of giddy. It wasn't the kind where you were happy inside. It felt like the kind of giddy you had when you drank too much coffee and you were trying to stay up all night, eventually turning to that crazy phase when you lacked sleep but before entering zombie mode where your brain was mush. That kind of giddy. Or was it paranoia?

Whatever it was it lasted for a few seconds in Mai's case. She shook her head again, trying to be reasonable. _'I guess love does do crazy things to you. Oh wait I think I'm supposed to not think about that.'_

Eventually she reached upon another decision. Mai left the cave and headed towards the coast of the island, figuring maybe some fresh air and sun would do her some good.

_'As long I don't get too close to the water, I'll be fine.'_ She reminded herself and then went on her way.

She sat on one of the smooth rocks, hopefully not the one Takuya had been sleeping on before when they found themselves in the sticky situation, and stared out into the ocean. Mai figured it was around noon since the sun was high up in the sky and it's rays bounced off the foamy, white waves the ocean produced. The effect was magical. The water was clearer than any water she had seen in the real world , even in the tropics, and it sparkled plenty due to the sun.

"Beautiful." she said in amazement.

Mai then decided to lay back on the smooth rock and wait. She didn't feel like searching for the guys since she had already explored the island enough and figured that when the time came she would find them, or vise-versa. A few seconds later as she rested on the rock she began humming a tune that was familiar to her as breathing. She could have sang the lyrics but didn't feel like it. There was no point in singing that song again anyway; she had sang it for the last time when that day had arrived...

"Ouch! Gomamon, watch where you step!" a squeaky voice rang out. Mai would have heard it if she wasn't humming.

"Sorry...hey, lookie over there!" A second voice replied.

"Where?"

"There! On that rock! Do you see what I see?"

A short pause followed after the question.

Then, "Another one! What should we do?" The first squeaky voice asked.

"What we did the first time. If we don't, Cap'n will get mad. And you know how bad it is when Cap'n is mad." The second voice said in a reminding tone.

"Oh, right. Well here we go I guess."

"Do your stuff."

Mai had barely finished humming another familar song when an unfamiliar tune reached her ears. It was hard for her describe even when her recent previous career had to do with music all-around. Slowly, Mai began feeling her eyelids droop and trying to close on her eyes. She resisted for a few minutes, wanting to hear the song all the way to the end but it was difficult.

Maybe, when she got the chance, she would tell Kouji and the others about her double life. Maybe. Later on, if she could remember, she would play the same song that was making her sleepy and make it a bit more lively. Right now though, she was too exhausted to think more.

_'Music to my ears...'_

Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ of the Sun and _Moon_**Warriors** **of the Sun and Moon**Warriors of the Sun and Moon_Warriors_ of the Sun and _Moon_Warriors **of** **the Sun and Moon**

"Is she awake yet?"

"Quiet, idiot."

"Well we can't wait for her forever. Sooner or later she'll have to wake up. Although it's pretty funny that she sings in her sleep. And you guys thought I was bad. Hmm...that song sounds familiar..."

"Shut up."

The first thing she saw was a wooded ceiling that looked old and weary. She smelled something that didn't appeal to her senses and she heard the two familiar voices arguing back and forth. However, she didn't want to get back up. If this was a new dream, she wanted to go back to the first one. The one where the sound of electric chords echoed in her ears and certain beats cued her to start.

"What...what'sgoingon?" Mai said sleepily as she rolled over to her right side. She heard a snicker near her.

"Knock it off." She heard an annoyed tone afterwards.

"Come on. You have to admit, it's kind of funny." Mai felt herself frowning at the voice. Whatever it thought was funny, she was sure she thought different.

"Honestly, I would prefer her singing to your mumbling. At least she makes sense in her sleep, unlike your mindless rambling." The second voice was condescending this time. Where did she hear that before?

"You would." was all the first voice said. Mai thought there was something being implied behind the words but she wasn't quite sure what it was.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know."

"Mm..shut up, whoever's talking. 'S annoying." Mai grumbled and turned around to the other side.

"Haha, that should tell you something." The first mischevious voice said.

"You know she meant you too."

The first voice snickered again. Mai, still trying to go back into her first dream and annoyed the voices _wouldn't_ shut up, slammed a fist hard onto the floor she was on. The sound reverberated in the wooden floor. She was left with a numb feeling in her right hand.

"Ouch...or whoa."

She heard the second voice pause and then say, "Maybe...maybe you should wake her up, before she does anything else like that again."

"Are you kidding me? Why don't you do it? She's your-" the first voice was muffled before it could say anything else.

"Shut up."

Whatever had muffled the first voice apparently stopped since it said, "Why don't _you _shut up?"

Before the second voice could reprimand it, Mai sat up quicker than they could see. She moved her long hair out of the way and turned to where the voices came from.

"Damn it! Why don't the two of you shut up?! Can't a girl get some sleep the hell around here?!" Mai went on and on, unaware of the foul language that was coming out of her mouth. Meanwhile, all Kouji and Takuya could do was stare at her with wide eyes. It really was all they could do given the fact that a sand-colored and not to mention itchy rope was tied around them. Rather tightly too.

"Mai..." Takuya began.

"What?!" Mai turned to face the brunette with a scowl that gave Kouji a run for his money.

"...Not so loud. They might hear you." he mumbled.

"Now would also be a good time to be aware of your surroundings." Kouji added withou raising the level of his voice.

At the sight of his face matched with his tone, Mai woke up. She looked around her, trying to comprehend what was going on. The message took a few seconds to sink in.

"Where are we and what's going on?" she asked confused. "And what's with the rope?"

"Great job Sherlock." Takuya interjected, using the reference that he had learned some years ago, hoping Mai would get it.

She did.

"Shut up." she said to Takuya and then had to force herself to look at Kouji.

"Could you answer my questions please, since gogglhead over here isn't being of much use." she said as politely as she could after being woken up.

He replied simply, "Kidnapped by pirate digimon, in a ship, sailing across the ocean."

"Ah. So why are you two tied up and not me?"

Kouji shrugged. "Takuya and I barely woke up when we saw you were the newest addition of captives to the ship. And of course, you know the rest."

"You got captured?" Mai felt another question rising.

At this the Lonewolf scowled, but the scowl wasn't aimed at her. "We should have kept our guard. We were asleep when they caught us. You?"

Mai sighed. "Ditto, except I was enjoying the sound of the crashing waves and the heat of the sun. I kinda ditched you two to find some food but found nothing. When I came back to the cave it was empty. I tried contacting you but you were already in trouble by then."

Kouji nodded as he gathered this information. As she explained shortly to him and Takuya what had happened to her she realized something.

_'He wasn't ignoring me. He might have been far away or conclusion number two seems the proper answer now.'_ She felt relieved when she thought this and then went back to focusing what was happening now.

"Well, I'm going to take a random guess that the reason you're still here is because the pirate digimon that captured you also happened to search through your pockets and find the D-tectors, your only chance of escape." Mai said straight-forward.

"Bingo." Takuya replied and then emitted a groan.

"What's wrong with you?" Mai frowned.

"I don't feel so good." Takuya closed his eyes and leaned back against the wooden wall behind him.

"Figures the Warrior of Flame isn't a sea dog." Mai chuckled but hoped he didn't throw up. She walked over to where the two guys were and was about to untie them when she saw the expression in Kouji's face change.

"Look out!" he cried out and half a second later Mai was on the ground unconscious once more.

The scowl didn't leave Kouji's face as he saw the figure from the shadows emerge. He saw something shiny and pointy appear before it was hidden from the faint sunlight that entered where they were held captive.

"Lookies like we caught sumthing wort' of value at last."


End file.
